Sharing_My_Thoughts

Tough Girl Saina Nehwal

2010-10-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

Saina Nehwal the gold medallist in the badminton event of the recently concluded Commonwealth Games tells us, in an article titled Time for girls to come out and play she wrote for India Today, how tough it has been for her.

Some extracts:

" I was told that my grandmother did not come to see me till a month after my birth"

"My uncles and other relatives are against encouraging girls in every aspect and that includes sports. I hardly interact with them.My parents are more open. They back me all the way..."

Click here to read this beautiful article written by a brave and gutsy girl.

Serious Men by Manu Joseph

2010-09-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

I remember reading many well written articles by Manu Joseph in the Indian weekly Outlook edited by Vinod Mehta. Serious Men is his debut novel and has a Brahmin astrophysicist and his Dalit assistant as "the interdependent poles" (New York Times).

And this is from the review in The Independent (UK) by Peter Carty: "Manu Joseph's first novel elegantly describes collisions with an unyielding status quo, ably counterpointing the frustrations of the powerless with the unfulfilling realities of power. With this astute comedy of manners he makes a convincing bid for his own recognition as a novelist of serious talent, the latest addition to a roster of Indian writers who are creating fine literary art from their country's fearsome contradictions." Click here to read the review.

It will be interesting to see how his first novel fares.

Adieu Martin Gardner

2010-06-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

The Nature of Things / Martin Gardner from Wagner Brenner on Vimeo.

Martin Gardner - the guru of recreational math - is no more. I embed this video here as a tribute to him. His writings helped me to think scientifically when I was in school and continue to enrich me to this day.

Short Film: Salim Baba

2010-04-10T05:01:00.000-07:00

April 10, 2010: One of the offerings on the Youtube Screening Room.

"Salim Muhammad is a 55-year-old man who lives in North Kolkata with his wife and five children. Since the age of ten he has made a living using a hand-cranked projector to screen discarded film scraps for the kids in his surrounding neighborhoods. "

Duration - 15:15

When Karthik Calls Karthik Does He Need A Psychiatrist?

2010-02-27T23:38:00.001-08:00

Hindi cinema tries to portray mental illness in 'Karthik Calling Karthik.' I am sceptical of mainstream Indian cinema trying to take up a serious issue like this. And subjects like mental illness can be used to make films which appeal to the voyeuristic instinct in the audience. I doubt that this film will make a mark among the classes and definitely not among the masses. Farhan Akhtar (the son of Javed Akhtar and the step son of Shabana Azmi), the protagonist in this film, shows that he is a good actor besides being a director with a professional touch. And the dusky Deepika Padukone who plays his girlfriend is lovely but thats all that she was supposed to be in this film. She was meant to portray a modern urban Indian girl who is going through her own heartbreaks as she searches for a 'gentle and caring' man.

Farhan Akhtar's acting is the redeeming feature and I would watch the film again just to see him. The end does became a bit text-bookish what with all the explanations. Nikhat Kazmi gives the film a 3.5 out of 5 in his review in The Times of India. Click here to see the review. I would give it a 3 (grudgingly).

[A promotional poster for Karthik Calling Karthik.]

The film also exemplifies something which has especially been seen in recent Bollywood films - technical excellence and a certain slickness which was totally absent till the 2000s. Call it a positive fall out of globalisation. Its a level playing field now as far as technology and gizmos are concerned. However most Bollywood films continue to remain of the kind that make one feel like gnashing one's teeth. The difference nowadays is in the number of good films which are being produced. This was impossible in the single-cinema days, the multiplexes today are able to absorb the loss which such films may incur thanks to the 300 plus crore rupees that '3 Idiots' can rake in in three weeks or the 120 crores that 'My Name is Khan' can bring in in a week.

I do not remember any really good mainstream Indian film about mental illness. I do remember a Kannada film I saw during the early nineties which was, if I remember rightly, about a man who got his kicks by making his wife have sex with other men and then hearing her talk about it. Girish Karnad had played the role of the psychiatrist in the same film. There was also Khamoshi, a Hindi film, in which Waheeda Rehman plays a nurse in a mental asylum who gets too close to a patient.

p.s. I realised later that Feb 26, the day I saw the film, was the date it was released all over India. This is another novelty. Couldn't imagine this some years ago. Hundreds, nay thousands of prints, being released in theatres all over the country and downloaded through satellite. The balcony ticket in Dreamland Cinema, Mhow costs Rupees Thirty. And the snacks in the canteen were all within Rupees ten a piece. The ambience of a small town, including the odd mosquitio, while watching the latest film. What more does one want? If only I were a fan of Bollywood.

The Best Hindi Songs of 2009 ?

2010-01-01T07:05:00.000-08:00

The weekly Outlook chooses what it says are five must-hear songs:

Bhor Bhaye from Delhi 6
Music Director: AR Rahman
Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi
Singers: Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Shreya Ghoshal

Emosanal Atyachar from Dev D
Singer: Kailash Kher
Music: Amit Trivedi

Joban Chhalke from Yatra
Singer: Kailash Kher

Hai Junoon from New York
Singer: Kailash Kher

Iktara from Wake up Sid
Singers: Kavita Seth and Amitabh Bhattacharya

Humour: Silence Is Golden

2009-12-21T07:36:00.000-08:00

Neti, Neti by Anjum Hasan

2009-12-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

I am a sucker for anything with a Shillong connection. And Neti, Neti by Anjum Hasan is a well written book. It was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2008. According to the website of the prize:

Twenty-five-year-old Sophie Das has moved from Shillong to Bangalore in search of work, fun and liberty. Neti, Neti’s action follows an increasingly alienated Sophie and her free-spirited friends through offices, pubs, night streets, shopping malls, rock concerts, and the homes of Bangalore’s neo-rich. A shocking murder and an infatuation send Sophie back to the small town of her youth.

Click here to read Jai Arjun Singh's review of the book

The fragrance of Rajnigandha

2009-12-19T13:04:00.000-08:00

I bought a VCD of the Hindi film Rajnigandha a couple of weeks ago. This film, directed by Basu Chatterji, was released when I had just entered my teens. We were living in Alwar, Rajasthan at that time. I never got to see the film but it certainly made an impact on me. The beautiful songs, the stunning beauty of Vidya Sinha, the charming boy-next-door hero Amol Palekar along with the artistic looking Dinesh Thakur all added to the beauty of this film.

The film is based on a story Yehi Sach Hai by Mannu Bhandari. It is about the dilemma a young woman faces when she meets an ex-boyfriend and old memories get revived. She is caught between two men who are head over heels in love with her.

The Bengali gentleman Salil Choudhary was the music director of this film. He had also composed the music for the National Award winning Malayalam film Chemmeen. The song Kai Baar Yun Hi Dekha Hai ... sung by Mukesh encapsulates the dilemma so well. It talks of the mind transgressing the boundary line which the mind itself had drawn and flirting with danger. It has been sung so beautifully by Mukesh I am not surprised that it won a national award. I must admit that have listened to this song time and again. The words towards the end are "Kisko meet banaoon, kiski preet bhulaoon?" ("Whom should I make my beloved? Whose love should I forget?" )

Rajnigandha had won the 1974 Filmfare award for the best film. Try to see it if you haven't already seen it.

Writer Mannu Bhandari. [Pic courtesy www.abhivyakti-hindi.org]

Visiting the Barli Development Institute For Rural Women, Indore

2009-12-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

Click here for a detailed report.

This N That...

2009-12-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

Some articles worth reading

Cinematic Adaptations of Indian Literary Texts [Source: Muse India, Sep - Oct 2009]

Every Word Knows Something of A Vicious Circle (The Nobel Lecture) by Herta Muller [Source: Outlook India, Dec 8, 2009]

A Dangerous Step [Amending the Right To Information Act would be a retrogade step] by Aruna Roy [Tehelka, Dec 19, 2009]

A review of The Thoreau You Don’t Know: What the Prophet of Environmentalism Really Meant By Robert Sullivan Harper Collins, 354 pages, $25.99.
Click here [Source: Audobon Magazine]

A Climate For Crime - Adoor's New Film

2009-09-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

A CLIMATE FOR CRIME Oru Pennum Randaanum Adoor Gopalakrishnan's latest offering to film lovers and cineastes.

From Adoor Gopalakrishnan's website:

Period and background The 1940s. The Princely State of Travancore, South India. The Second World War being fought in Europe had cast its shadow on colonial British India. Daily necessities like food, clothing, kerosene, petrol were scarce. Unemployment grew while hoarding of grains became routine. Set against such times, the four stories in this film relate to crimes committed by the deprived, as well as the comparatively privileged landed gentry.

Short Synopsis: A film about crime in different contexts and situations

A poor schoolboy fervently yearns to reform his father who is a thief

Two policemen collude to frame a rickshaw-puller in a burglary of which he is innocent

A student suffers trauma over having to abort the pregnancy of his girl friend, a domestic

Two men, one elderly and the other middle aged, fight over a bewitching woman who doesn’t reveal her preferences

Images from Adoor Gopalakrishnan's website.

Click here to read the full article on this film in the above website.

Adoor also won the National Award for best director for his film Naalu Pennungal, based on Jnanapith award-winner Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai's four short stories. He has already won this award for four earlier films. These are Swayamvaram (1972), Anantharam, and Mathilukal.

Read Shobha Warrier's interview of Adoor in Rediff dot com (Sept 8 2009) by clicking here.

Also read (Rediff dot com) Before Resul Pookutty there was Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Thus Spake The Indian Male

2009-07-25T02:19:00.000-07:00

"We are all Kauravas now. Dushasana is my hero.

I have the right to assault and strip a woman in broad daylight.

I know that my brothers who will be watching will also join me.

And since this is Kalyug there will be no Krishna

to save the Draupadi I choose to humiliate."
-----------------------------------------------

Woman stripped in public in Patna

My Short Story In DNA Me of 28 June 2009

2009-06-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

A short story I had sent to the magazine DNA Me in July 2008 has been published today (Sunday Jun 28 2009) after being in the queue for almost a year.

It is titled Visiting God's Own Country and has been published under the title A Question of Priorities.

Click here to see the story as it was originally written.

The above post will also provide you links to three of my other stories which have been published in the same magazine.

And click here to read it the way it has appeared in print (pdf file):

Lord Meghnad Desai Writes A Thriller

2009-06-07T09:12:00.001-07:00

Picture From BusinessWorld (Link given below)

The economist Lord Meghnad Desai has written a thriller. Titled Dead On Time it is about a day in the life of Harry White the British Prime Minister.

Lord Desai speaks to Sanjitha Rao Chaini (BW Books, Businessworld 25 May) about, among other things, his love of theatre, the recession, his love of writing and the Indian politicai scene.

Click here to read this interesting interview.

Adieu Kamala Das aka Madhavikutty aka Kamala Surraiyya (1934- 2009)

2009-06-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

Picture from The Hindu.

Kamala Das. Bilingual poet and writer. 1934 - 2009

She knew how to shock. Whether it was by writing about sexuality or the nudes she painted or her conversion to Islam. I remember the storm that her 'autobiography' My Days had created in the seventies. She was one among a handful of women writers who knew how to shock society.Take, for instance, these lines written by her when she was still known as Kamala Das:

Gift him all,
Gift him what makes you woman,
The scent of
Long hair, the musk of sweat between
The breasts.
The warm shock of menstrual blood
And all your
Endless female hungers. Oh, yes,
Getting a man to love is easy but living
Without him afterwards may have to be faced.

Or these lines from the poem The Maggots from the book The Descendants:

At sunset, on the river bank, Krishna
Loved her for the last time and left...

That night in her husband's arms, Radha felt
So dead that he asked, What is wrong,
Do you mind my kisses, love? And she said,
No, not at all, but thought, What is
It to the corpse if the maggots nip?

By the time she converted to Islam and had become Kamala Surraiya she had suppressed her sexuality and had begun to believe that only Islam could give protection to women. I wonder what would have happened if she had met Tasleema Nasreen the Bangladeshi writer in exile. I am told that they had actually met once. Her conversion to Islam had shocked many. At the same time there were many who said that such behaviour was expected of her.

She wrote as Madhavikutty in Malayalam. In Kerala she was also known as her mother the writer Balamaniamma's daughter. Balamaniamma was a famous Malayalam writer and poetess. Her maternal uncle Nalapat Narayana Menon was also a well known Malayalam poet and he had encouraged her to write. So did her husband who she had married when she had turned fifteen. There were many who said that her husband at times treated her like a father his daughter or an uncle his niece.

I remember a weekly column she used to write in Karanjia's Blitz during the mid seventies. It could well have been the openness with which she wrote for she was one of the few writers who had a following all over India. There were better writers than her but she was extremely media savvy long before television became widespread throughout India. She had said that she had stopped writing poetry because poets were not paid well in India.

During the eighties there was a rumour that she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. But according to many this was not correct as the names of the nominees are never announced.

I feel that she was at her best when writing about the Kerala she saw in her childhood. Her foray into politics was brief and disastrous. She and Khushwant Singh were not the best of friends. He knew how to irritate her with his choice of words.

Links
Farzana Versey's blog post on her. Click here

Kamala Surraiya on SAWNET. Click here.

Kamala Das at the Emory University Dept of English website. Click here.

Poet Vijay Nambisan's tribute to her in the Literary Review of The Hindu (June 2009). Click here.
==============

Connie Converse - The Singer Who Vanished

2009-04-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

Discovered this song by Connie Converse, the singer who never made a commercial recording, on Youtube. She disappeared in 1974.

In this Youtube video one can listen to her singing "One By One" which was written by her too. This recording was done in 1954.

Recommended www.connieconverse.com

Validation - A Short Film by Kurt Kuenne

2009-04-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

Happened to find this short film (16:24) while doing a Youtube search for short films.

According to the information provided at youtube -

"Validation" is a fable about the magic of free parking. Starring TJ Thyne & Vicki Davis. Writer/Director/Composer - Kurt Kuenne. Winner - Best Narrative Short, Cleveland Int'l Film Festival, Wi...
"Validation" is a fable about the magic of free parking. Starring TJ Thyne & Vicki Davis. Writer/Director/Composer - Kurt Kuenne. Winner - Best Narrative Short, Cleveland Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Jury Award, Gen Art Chicago Film Festival, Winner - Audience Award, Hawaii Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Comedy, Breckenridge Festival of Film, Winner - Crystal Heart Award, Best Short Film & Audience Award, Heartland Film Festival, Winner - Christopher & Dana Reeve Audience Award, Williamstown Film Festival, Winner - Best Comedy, Dam Short Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Film, Sedona Int'l Film Festival.
Category: Comedy

======================================
At last count more than 1,660,000 viewers had seen this film.

My Short Story In An Anthology

2009-04-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

Sulekha (www.sulekha.com) have published the sixth book using contributions from bloggers. It is titled UNWIND:A Whirlwind of Writings. It is an anthology of 23 entries and one of the entries has been written by me. I am fairly sure that it is my short story titled The Teacher And The Student.

Some background: This is one of 48 shortlisted articles/stories by bloggers on Sulekha. Each entry was given an award of Rs. 10,000. Of these 48 entries 25 were selected for an anthology published by Penguin India. My story did not make it to this list of 25.

I had suggested to Team Sulekha that they must not let the 23 entries vanish. I was pleased when they wrote to me telling me that they are taking up my suggestion.

Well, this book is the result. I have just placed an online order for a copy.

Click here to read the announcement by Team Sulekha.

Twelve New Species Of Frogs Discovered in the Western Ghats (India)

2009-02-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

Researchers led by S.D. Biju of Delhi University and Frankie Bossuyt of the Free University of Brussels have discovered twelve new species of tree frogs (Genus Philautus which was discovered in India in 1854). They also discovered a species of tree frog thought extinct. The Travancore Tree Frog (Philautus travencoricus)had not been seen for hundred years.

According to an article in The Hindu of Feb 4 2009 written by P Venugopal the genus Philautus has 32 species. 19 of these have been discovered by Biju.

I feel happy that there is some good news from the world of nature.

Read the article in The Hindu (4 Feb) by clicking here.

www.frogindia.org

Read article in sciencedaily by clicking here.

The Sting of Good Fiction?

2009-01-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

I associate the magazine Tehelka with sting operations and investigative journalism. Journalist, Naipaul fan and Army brat (a rather afffectionate way of describing those who spent their childhoods in the Army thanks to their dads being in uniform) Tarun Tejpal is a writer of no mean repute himself and each issue of Tehelka has some good articles on literature and book reviews. That notwithstanding it was a pleasant surprise to see the Jan 10 issue of Tehelka. This year-end double issue has 15 short stories by Indian writers. This list includes 'seniors' like Ruskin Bond (born 1934) and 'juniors' like Amruta Patil (born 1979).

The stories have a common theme: Excess. In an introductory note Tejpal says, "The writers were given no other brief. Just the one word." I found this bit enlightening, "I once asked the great writer O.V. Vijayan what was it that literature did that gave it a showcase place in civilisation. He thought for a bit, and said, "It refines us. And that is a very big thing." In a time of bombarding information and facts, of crude posturing and increasing battlelines, this special issue of original fictions is then about that - that amorphous 'refining' thing."

The contributors in this year-end double issue include: Altaf Tyrewala, Manjula Padmanabhan, Mridula Koshy, Tishani Doshi, Rajorshi Chakraborti, Ruskin Bond, Amruta Patil, Sunetra Gupta, Vivek Narayanan, Ambarish Satwik, Sarnath Banerjee, Anjum Hasan, Sudeep Chakravarti, Kalpish Ratna and Rana Dasgupta.

Click here to get to this special issue in the Tehelka archives.

p.s. I have picked up 5 copies of the print edition at the princely sum of Rs. 20 per copy. The idea is to gift it to those friends in town who like good writing.

Kiwi: 18 Million Views for this Short Film

2008-08-08T00:45:00.000-07:00

This short animation film as proved extremely popular on Youtube. It has, so far, been seen more than 18 million times.

This is what Dony Permedi, the creator of the film, has to say:

Thank you everyone for voting! Kiwi won "Best CG" at the Channel Frederator Awards!

My Master's Thesis Animation, which I completed while I was at The School of Visual Arts, MFA Computer Art, in New York City. Created using Maya, After Effects, and rigged using The Setup Machine by Anzovin studios. If you would like to download there is a small version at my website: www.donysanimation.com

The music is orginal and is by Tim Cassell, someone I went to highschool with. The music is available here:
http://donysanimation.com/01KiwiTheme...
http://donysanimation.com/02KiwiTheme...

Alot of people have been emailing me asking a whole lot of questions. Maybe you can find some answers here:
http://www.isfat.com/happyjunk/kiwi.php

Everyone thank you so much for your compliments and kind words!

http://www.savethekiwi.org.nz

Rate Kiwi! on IMDB!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051713/

Click here to read an interview with Dony Permedi at Isfat dot com.

Ammannur Madhava Chakyar (1917 - 2008) and Kudiyattom

2008-07-28T00:39:00.000-07:00

Ammannur Madhava Chakyar the 91 year old Kudiyattom dancer is no more. He died on July 1 at his house Ammannur Chakyar Madom, at Irinjalakuda near Thrissur. He was 91. Had it not been for him Kudiyattom would have gradually died a tragic death in select Kerala temples. He brought it out and the world saw this graceful Sanskrit dance form which is a predecessor of Kathakali. He had a string of awards to his name, these included Padma Bhushan, Kalidasa Samman, Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi Award and Kendra Sangeet Nataka Akademi Award. He was selected to receive the UNESCO heritage citation which described Kutdiyattam as a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”.

I had the good fortune of attending a Kudiyattom performance at the Indore Rajwada on March 20 2008. This was part of the Phalgun festival to celebrate Holi. The Jatayu Ravana confrontation after the abduction of Sita was the theme of that day's performance. Some images I clicked that day

A Short Biography Of Ammannur - Kapila. Kapila maintains a weblog on Kudiyattom. She is a disciple of Ammannur and is the daughter of G Venu who is also a disciple of Ammannur and is an eminent researcher into the dance and theatre forms of Kerala who has also played a major role in the revival of many of these ancient forms.

Link to an article from The Hindu (Friday Mar 18 2005) titled Endowed With Divine Talent. It is about Madhava Chakyar and his disciple and researcher G Venu who were honoured at a function in Chennai. Click here.

Short films at the Youtube Screening Room

2008-07-22T01:08:00.000-07:00

Youtube has revolutionised internet use. Everyone who uses the internet will agree that this innovative idea which came about in 2006 thanks to the efforts of Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim has enriched our internet usage.

I am stunned by the range of videos especially the vintage variety which one can see thanks to Youtube. I have also been able to create blog posts based on one topic (The Beatles for instance). And I have also been able to upload a dozen short videos of birds that I shot in this small town where I live. The other day I happened to see the promo for a short film which was available on Youtube and I got to know about the Youtube Screening Room and this gave me access to some lovely short films.

Some of these are award winning films and there is no way that one can get to see them in India in a multiplex or a normal cinema hall. Here are some of the films that I have seen:

(1) The Danish Poet: This is a lovely short film set in Scandinavia which won an Oscar for animation. The narrator is the legendary Liv Ullmann.

(2) 4960: Directed by Wing -Yee Wu this short film is set during the siege of Sarajevo and according to Youtube " follows a young man and woman as they attempt to communicate across the war-torn space between them."

(3) Ryan: An Oscar winning animation film on the famous animator Ryan Larkins who descended into alcoholism and penury. This film is by his friend and fellow animator Chris Landreth.

Why don't you take a visit and see for yourself?

Click to Enter: The Youtube Screening Room.

Alvida Sharan (Sarod) Rani...

2008-06-08T00:11:00.000-07:00

Sharan Rani or Sarod Rani as she was popularly known is no more. She expired on Tuesday 8 April 2008 - a day before her 80th birthday. She was suffering from cancer. She was a disciple of Baba Allauddin Khan and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and was the first female sarod player in India. Her dedication to her art can be seen through the long list of awards she won - the Padmashri in 1968, the Sahitya Kala Parishad award - the Delhi State Honour in 1974, the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1986. And also her own admission of the three miscarriages she suffered because of holding the sarod pressed against her stomach. She had donated around 400 musical instruments to the National Museum. She wrote a book titled The Divine Sarod: its Origin, Antiquity and Development in India since BC 2nd century in 1992.

Playing with the Moroccan Oud player Nasser Houari (3:59)

Playing with Aashish Khan (grandson of Baba Allauddin Khan) (1:00)
Youtube video. Click here (embedding disabled)

The entry on Sharan Rani in the website of the Jain community: Click here

Sharan Rani's page on Music India online. You can hear some of her selected pieces here.

Strumming New Tunes - Sharan Rani reminisces about her student days. (India Today website)

Interview with Sharan Rani (1:11:17) (and also with other musicians). Click here

Brief obituary in The Hindu. Click here

Tribute in Rediff - click here

More links to Sharan Rani

Some sites on Buddhism

2008-03-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

I found the following sites on Buddhism in the book Buddhism For Dummies Posting the list here enables me to take a look when I wish as well as enables others to access the sites. I have seen a few and the articles there are very interesting and worth reading.

(1) Inquiring Mind www.inquiringmind.com

(2) Mandala: Buddhism in Our Time www.mandalamagazine.org

(3)Shambhala Sun: Creating Enlightened Society www.shambhalasun.com

(4) Snow Lion www.snowlionpub.com

(5)Tricycle: The Buddhist Review www.tricycle.com

(6)Turning Wheel: The Journal of Socially Engaged Buddhism www.bpf.org

Source: Buddhism For Dummies (A reference for the rest of us) by Jonathan Landaw and Stephan Bodian

Appendix B: Additional Buddhist Resources to Check Out

Click here to get to the webpage on the book as well as to access more related articles.

The Lotus Sutra as recited by some Western monks (9:31)

An earlier blog post: Chanting the Heart Sutra

Short Films By Women For Women

2008-03-09T22:49:00.000-07:00

Found this while doing a google:

Interesting short films by women for women. The films are in four categories:

(a) U.S. Cinema

(b) International

(c) Animation

(d) Documentary

I have seen just one so far and I liked it.

Happy viewing. Click here

Mozart and Bollywood

2008-03-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

Here is Mozart's Symphony 40

(Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Live concert at the Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Japan on November 11th, 2006.)

And here are Lata Mangeshkar and Talat Mahmood singing Itna Na Mujhsay Tu Pyar Badha.... (Film Chhaya, 1961, Director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Composer Salil Choudhury)

Bharat Gopi... Actor par excellence is no more....

2008-01-29T07:53:00.000-08:00

Question: Smita Patil, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and Amitabh Bachchan are four of the five actors who have had the honour of a retrospective of their films being shown in Paris by the French Government. Who is the fifth?

I won't be surprised if most of us get this wrong. The answer is Malayalam film actor Bharat Gopi. Bharat Gopi expired today, Jan 29, in Thiruvanantapuram of a heart attack. He was 71. He was taken ill five days ago while shooting. My mother told me this when I returned home today evening. She liked Gopi as an actor and knew that I was also a fan of Gopi.

Gopi was at his peak during the eighties. He was famous for his roles in films directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Aravindan, K.G. George and Govind Nihalani among others. A paralytic stroke laid him low for a long time during which he faced a lot of difficulties. He turned to film direction later on.

In her tribute to Gopi written for rediff.com Shobha Warrier mentions how Gopi got noticed in his very first film Swayamvaram directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. His frustrated face drew attention to it for the brief span that it was shown on the screen. The Guardian had an article on him titled The Face of Unemployment. Click here to read Goodbye Mr. Bharat Gopi, Shobha Warrier's excellent tribute to Gopi.

Some of his well known films include Kodiyettam (1977) which won him the National Award for acting. This award was known as the Bharat award in those days. It was after this award that he came to be known as Bharat Gopi. He had also acted in Mani Kaul's Satah Se Udta Aadmi and Govind Nihalani's Aghaat.

His book Abhinayam Anubhavam won the National Award for the best book on cinema (1994). His production Padhyam (1991) won him the V Shantaram award for the best film. A very intense person he overcame personal tragedy and put great passion into everything he did. He will be missed.

Links:

Wikipedia article on Bharat Gopi.

Tribute in the Hindustan Times

Durga Puja 2007 in Mhow (MP); India

2007-10-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

Durga Puja 2007 in Mhow (MP); India

A detailed photo blog in my Sulekha blog - click here

Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007) is no more...

2007-08-01T11:08:00.001-07:00

Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007) is no more...

Thus Spake Antonioni:
"I am not a theoretician of the cinema. If you ask me what directing is, the first answer that comes into my head is: I don't know. The second: All my opinions on the subject are in my films."

"When a scene is being shot, it is very difficult to know what one wants it to say, and even if one does know, there is always a difference between what one has in mind and the result on film. "

"When I am shooting a film I never think of how I want to shoot something; I simply shoot it."

As if the news of Ingmar Bergman's death wasn't tragedy enough for one day we came to know that another giant of world cinema - Michelangelo Antonioni- also died the same day.

There is a reference to Antonioni in Kundan Shah's Hindi film Jaane Bhi Do Yaro (1983, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani, Satish Shah, Om Puri and Neena Gupta) - the park where the duo discover the corrupt Municipal Commissioner D'Mello's dead body is named Antonioni Park. In Blowup (1966) - Antonioni's first English Language film - we have a fashion photographer who believes that the photograph of lovers that he took in a park also shows a murder being committed. In Jaane Bhi Do Yaro Kundan Shah salutes Antonioni by using the same idea. Incidentally, Blowup was the first British film which displayed full frontal female nudity.

The master of film aesthetics Antonioni was famous for his trilogy - L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), L'eclisse (1962). This trilogy deals with man's alientation in the modern machine dominated age.
Monica Vitti in L'Avventura (1960). This film received many brickbats in the form of boos, catcalls and walkouts at the Cannes film festival. In 1961 the magazine Sight and Sound conducted a poll and declared this to be the second best film of all time after Orson Welles' Citizen Kane.

Antonioni had said "In Blow-up I used my head instinctively!"

Beyond The Clouds (1995). Directed from a wheelchair after suffering a stroke with the help of director Wim Wenders. According to The Guardian this is "a serious, stately meditation on the meaning of life ... and the beauty of naked women."

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Videoclips:
From L'Avventura,1960 (4:31)

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From Blowup, 1966 (3:15)
"You are right to say that Blow-up is my most unorthodox film, but it is unorthodox in montage, as well as photography. "

"In Blow-up I used my head instinctively!"

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From Zabriski Point (6:40) which had music by Pink Floyd, The Who and The Rolling Stones

Tributes and links:
Italian visionary Antonioni dies at 94 - Xan Brooks and agencies (Guardian Unlimited, July 31)
Michelangelo Antonioni, 94, Italian Director, Dies - Rick Lyman (The New York Times, July 31 2007)

The languorous, achingly hip films of Michelangelo Antonioni by Dennis Lim (Slate July 31)

Article in TIME (Feb 19, 1965) on Antonioni's Red Desert.

Quotes by Michelangelo Antonioni

Adieu Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007)

2007-08-01T11:05:00.001-07:00

Ingmar Bergman "poet with the camera" (1918-2007)

"Masters like Ingmar Bergman can die only in the physical sense. He has been with me — as, I am sure, he has been with many others — ever since I discovered cinema as an art form. His work will live on forever for he has, through his huge body of work, defined the very contours of cinema for the modern world. You think of cinema, you think of Bergman. " - Adoor Gopalakrishnan's tribute to Bergman

"probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera" - Woody Allen
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Quotes by Bergman:

"Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls."

"I hope I never get so old I get religious. "

"I write scripts to serve as skeletons awaiting the flesh and sinew of images."
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One of the first headlines I read when I woke up yesterday, July 31, was that film icon and giant Ingmar Bergman was no more. Press reports quote his daughter Eva who said that her father passed away peacefully at his home on the Baltic Sea island of Faro.

The Associated Press writer Louise Nordstrom in her tribute to him writes:

Bergman's dozens of works combined deep seriousness, indelible imagery and unexpected flashes of humor in finely written, inventively shot explorations of difficult subjects such as plague and madness.

His vision encompassed the extremes of his beloved Sweden: the claustrophobic gloom of unending winter nights, its glowing summer evenings and the bleak magnificence of the Baltic islet of Faro, where the reclusive artist spent his last years. (Link to article given below)

A very strict upbringing by his father, a Lutheran Minister, who believed in "spare the rod and spoil the child" traumatised him. His films dealt with love, pain, good, evil, the fear of death, the joys and pain of family life, relationships.... a navarasa of sorts on celluloid....

The unforgettable chess scene with death in The Seventh Seal (4:00)

Wild Strawberries: Prof. Borg's first nightmare (4:00)

Adoor Gopalakrishnan's tribute to Ingmar Bergman (Indian Express, July 31 2007)

Film Great Ingmar Bergman dies at 89 by Louise Nordstrom (Guardian Unlimited July 31)

Ingmar Bergman, Famed Film Director, Dies at 89 by Mervyn Rothstein (New York Times, July 30)

Ingmar Bergman: Summing up a life in film by Michiko Kakutani (New York Times, June 6 1983)

Chanting the Heart Sutra

2007-07-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

Chanting the Heart Sutra (6:23)by Geshe Kunkhen

Buying Books in the Shillong of the Seventies

2007-07-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

I think it was in 1977 when I was studying in my first year of Pre University Science in St. Edmund's College Shillong. As an avid book lover it was my dream to have a good collection of books in my personal library. But this was a difficult task as I wasn't given a fixed amount as pocket money. "Tell us what you want," my parents would say, "and we will get it for you." The walk from Nongbet Cottage in Nongrim Hills where we lived till
St. Edmund's College took barely fifteen minutes. I would usually go to my classmate Alok's house and both of us would walk down together past the Fire Brigade bus stop and the football ground. As I would usually be back home by 3:30 pm I would have a late lunch at home. The upshot of all this was that my parents were very clear that I didn't need any pocket money.

The State Central Library in Shillong had an excellent collection of books. And it had a lovely reference section and an unbelievably good student's section. Not to mention the children's section which had one of the largest collection of Charlie Brown in hardcover. The walk to the State Central Library would take something like half an hour. But we would walk slowly and take our own time in reaching the library. We didnt mind walking because Shillong didnt have a summer (I wonder how it is now) and it had plenty of pretty girls. I also remember issuing thrillers from the ‘library’ of the Officers Mess at Headquarters, Assam Rifles. This ‘library’ was just an almirah full of books. But I remember reading Thor Heyerdahl’s The Kon Tiki Expedition from this collection. I wonder how many of our youngsters today have heard of Thor and his unbelievable adventures. But then I am talking like a grumpy old man.

Shillong had plenty of lending libraries where one could issue copies of JS (Junior Statesman) - the weekly for the young which had cult status amongst youngsters - or the westerns of Sudden and Louis L Amour. Not to mention the Commando and Archie comics. You could also add the Alistair Mc Leans, the James Hadley Chase novels, the Desmond Bagleys, the Barbara Cartlands and the Mills and Boons (Milky Boobs, as one of my classmates in Mhow described them). And yes, the Hardy Boys, the Nancy Drews and the Enid Blytons for the school children. In the midst of all this one wouldn't be surprised if a copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare also turned up. One of these libraries had a rather quaint name - Sufi Hamsaya. It was bang opposite the football ground at the Fire Brigade bus stop.

I remember one such lending library in Police Bazaar. I managed to get a paperback copy of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby with colour photographs from the film starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. I paid the princely sum of Rs. Four only for this book. I still have it in my collection. I also remember buying a copy of Hall and Knight's Higher Algebra from another small bookshop in Police Bazaar for eight rupees. And Chapala Book Stall somewhere after Kelvin Cinema past the turning for the Bus Stand. Or was it before the Bus Stand? This was famous for selling text books. An ELBS (English Language Book Society) reprint of Algebra Made Easy is still in my collection. It had cost 4 Shillings ( 4 Rupees) then.

Modern Book Depot had two branches in Shillong. One was at Laitumkhrah and this was the one which was famous for music. The LP (Long Playing) record covers on display there were a treat to see. Come to think of it an LP at Rs. 45/= was a pretty costly thing considering what people were earning in those days. And yet music lovers bought them. No free downloads or ipods with thousands of songs in those days. And cassettes were just beginning to become popular. Their branch on GS Road (Gauhati Shillong Road) where Police Bazaar began had a fanstastic collection of books.

I remember I and a friend had entered this bookshop with a bag containing books that we had issued from the State Central Library. We decided to leave after browsing for an hour and without buying anything. As we were leaving we were asked about the books we were carrying in our bag. “Oh, these are from the library,” we told the shop assistant. “Then it is okay,” he replied, “because you were using our shop also like a library.” We were giggling as we exited the shop. But I do remember buying an ELBS edition of The Dictionary of Biology from this shop for two rupees - the shop assistant on duty that day couldn't believe that I had managed to find such a book from their shelves as two rupees was a rather low figure for such an elite bookshop even by the standards of those days.

But the best was when I discovered this man who sold books on the pavement. This was in Laitumkhrah market and it was on the stretch between Don Bosco and the St. Paul’s publications. He had a vast range of paperbacks each costing just two rupees. Now that was a sum I could afford and arrange for. So I started taking two rupees from my mother every now and then for ‘lunch money’. Only, I wouldn’t eat anything at the college canteen. After college I would go to the ‘bookshop’ and pick up something I liked. Of the many books that I bought from there I still remember Ian Fleming’s Diamonds are Forever, Nevil Shute’s On the Beach, Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Ian Fleming’s The Spy Who Loved Me. The list is endless. Ah, I also remember Typee by Herman Melville (who is famous for his novel Moby Dick), and The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.

Some months after I started buying these books I told my father about them. I had a hunch that he wouldn’t get angry as I wasn’t buying these books at an exorbitant price. My guess was correct. Instead of scolding me as he would usually do he borrowed a few of these from me and started reading them. I was happy that my collection now had official sanction at home. I never asked the bookseller how he managed to make a profit by selling these books. Many of these were editions of the fifties. If I can find them in my collection I can wait a decade or two more and perhaps mint a small fortune by selling them at an online auction. Or better still I will keep them with me till my dying day. I don’t know about diamonds because I don’t have any but books, I am sure, are for ever.

Laurie Baker- Architect extraordinaire is no more

2007-04-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

"I have my own principles, which I am unwilling to abandon. I dislike falsehood and deceit. A building should be truthful."

"I would like to mention what I consider as one of the most foolish architectural lies that anyone can imagine - build a brick building, then plaster it all over and paint bricks on the plaster to make it look like a brick building! How stupid can we be! There are several such prominent buildings in Thiruvananthapuram. "

- Laurie Baker

I happened to read the news of the death of the famous architect Laurie Baker in today's newspaper. Laurie Baker, the architect who was a Quaker in his beliefs, and was also inspired by Mahatma Gandhi made Indians to do a serious re-think about techniques of construction.

He had arrived in India in 1944. A chance meeting with Mahatma Gandhi was a defining moment of his life. He had presented Gandhi with a pair of shoes he had made using scrap and a discarded sole. Gandhi had asked him if he could do something for the housing needs of the poor in India. That had encouraged him to settle in India. He and his wife Elizabeth worked in Faizabad, Pithoragarh and Kerala.

He revolutionised construction techniques especially in Kerala He was against needless plastering, and also against the use of cement. "Do not waste money and resources" was his mantra. He also took into account the resources consumed when cement was manufactured. He had once said, "My next principle is to use locally-available material. If the area makes good bricks, use them. If I want to build in an area full of laterite or stone, I would use it. This is not only economical, but the building would also look as though it belongs; it would not sport an imported look."

Read more about this great man and his methods:

(1) The Wikipedia entry on Laurie Baker.

(2) Of architectural truths and lies by Laurie Baker.

(3) Mud by Laurie Baker (pdf version; recommended you see this version as it has illustrations too as opposed to the html version a link to which is given below.)

(4) Mud by Laurie Baker (28 pages, see as html)

(5) Obituary in The Hindu

(6) Obituary in The Indian Express

(7) Laurie Baker: The man we will never forget by Shobha Warrier in Rediff.com

Recipe for Orange Peel Chutney....

2007-03-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

The other day I mentioned an Orange peel chutney that my mother had made. I got quite a few requests to share the recipe. Well, here it is. My mother tells me that her father the late Dharmananda Swami of village Chennitala, Mavelikara (Kerala) had taught her this. My grandfather was a swamiji who had many disciples visiting him. But once a week he would enter the kitchen and cook many tasty dishes for everyone in the Ashram. Cooking was a passion with him. And my mother, Ponnamma Vasudevan Nair, is quiet a specialist in making mouth watering dishes. She seems to have inherited this passion from her father. The other day she made some cauliflower pickle in mustard oil and it was really tasty. So tasty that none of it is left. So without wasting much time here is the recipe she made me write down:

Orange Peel Chutney
Ingredients:
1) Orange peel cut into small pieces - One cupful
2) Onion finely chopped - 3 Table spoons
3) Tamarind (a quantity equal in size to a small lemon)
4) Cooking Oil of your choice - 4 table spoons
5) Chilly powder and salt - to taste
6) Crushed jaggery - 1 table spoon
7) Methi (Fenugreek Seeds) - 1 teaspoon
8) Rai (Mustard Seeds) - 1 teaspoon
9) Hot water - 2 cups
10)Curry leaves - 8 to 10 leaves
11) Coriander powder (dhania powder) - 2 teaspoons

Method:

Soak the tamarind in two cups of hot water.

Heat the oil and add the fenugreek and mustard seeds.

When they crackle, add the onions and stir till light brown.

Add the orange peel and fry it lightly so that its rawness goes.

Add the coriander powder and stir.

Add chilly powder and curry leaves.

Stir and pour the Tamarind juice into the mixture.

Add crushed jaggery and salt.

Bring to a boil. You can boil this for upto 5 minutes.

Cool the chutney and put into a jar and refrigerate.

Last, but not least:

Say thanks to my mother

When a tree explodes in colour.... (From Mhow (MP), India)

2007-03-03T19:08:00.000-08:00

"I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree Poems are made by fools like me But only God can make a tree" - American poet Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)
(Kilmer was killed in the trench warfare of World War One)

Spring is in the air. The Semul or silk cotton tree (Salmalia malabarica or Bombax malabaricum) is on flower. And so is the mango. "Aam kay ped par mor aaye hain" I overheard a young girl tell her grandfather. And the most beautiful of all is the Flame of the Forest or Dhak, Palas, Bastard Teak, Parrot Tree, Porasum (Tamil) , Khakda (Gujarati) as it is also known. The battle of Plassey was fought near a forest full of these trees. And I have seen villages named Palasiya in Madhya Pradesh. I recommend a google search for all those of you who are do not live in areas where this tree grows naturally. I remember boiling the flowers and making colour for Holi when I was a child and my Dad was posted in Mhow. Today, the fourth of March, is the day when people throw colour on each other. Let me see if I can collect a few flowers.

A naturalist from Pune had once written an essay on this tree in Bittu Sahgal's Sanctuary magazine and he had claimed to have seen more than twenty species of birds on this tree in a short time span of 3 or 4 hours. I love the feel of the trifoliate leaves when they are green, it is like touching suede. I have often seen squirrels and parrots eating the seeds from the pods. I used to collect these pods, one had to get to them when they fell down before the squirrels did so. Even succeeded in making some of them sprout but they died and I felt heartbroken.

I remember taking some photographs of a clump of these trees from a moving train while travelling from Indore to Jabalpur almost ten years ago. I wish a serious effort is undertaken to make this tree more popular. Whenever I see the Flame of the forest on flower I remember these words of the poet Ezra Pound :"The difference between a gun and a tree is a difference of tempo. The tree explodes every spring."

Yesterday I went around town on a moped with a young man named Shyam who I borrowed from a photographer's studio and who was wielding a digital camera. We were taking pictures of a small stadium and on the way back we took a few pictures of a Flame of the Forest tree. I am including them in this post so that all of you can also enjoy this sight.

p.s. In the first picture you can see a male purple sunbird. A parakeet was also sitting on this tree but we disturbed it so it flew away. Maybe we will have better luck next time.

An Arranged Marriage.... (Short Story)

2007-02-22T23:47:00.000-08:00

It took time for Mr. Sadarangani to register the message. His son Vishal was telling him that his girl friend Veena was pregnant. Mr. Sadarangani thought he would have a heart attack. “Hey Ram, what is this world coming to?” he asked his wife Gita, “I couldn’t imagine Vishal and Veena would betray our trust so.” The kids had grown up in the same building in Bandra. They had been classmates at the same school and the same college. Vishal was working now and Veena was doing her MBA. Both sets of parents knew that they were very friendly. Deep down in their hearts they also knew that they were madly in love with each other.

But nobody was willing to admit the truth which had been staring them in the face for so many years. The level of denial was so high that when both had turned sixteen Mr and Mrs Sadarangani had even tried to make Veena tie a rakhi on Vishal’s hand on rakshabandhan day. But they had not insisted when they saw the contempt with which both youngsters dismissed the suggestion. Veena’s parents Mr. and Mrs Menon were also told about Veena’s pregnancy. All hell broke loose in the Menon household too.

Mr. and Mrs. Menon were quiet clear that they didn’t want a Sindhi son-in-law. And the Sadaranganis were clear that they didn’t want a Malayali daughter-in-law. Even if she was as fair complexioned as Veena was. As a matter of fact the friendship between both couples was built on a foundation of intolerance. Mr. and Mrs. Menon were born and brought up in Kerala and they wanted Veena to marry a good Menon boy. This development was a shock for them. They felt that they should have acknowledged the relationship when they saw it clearly many years ago. But the parents of both were praying for it to be a passing infatuation. Since the situation had gone out of hand the parents got together over a cup of coffee. Mrs. Menon made her famous filter coffee and Mrs. Sadarangani brought the papads.

The parents were clear on one thing. The youngsters had let them down. They had not expected such a thing from them. They had brought them up with all the right cultural values and beliefs. They had never been allowed to become westernised. They were allowed to read as many books as they wanted, see movies and listen to music. But they were never allowed to go on dates or spend exorbitant amounts on clothes and cosmetics. Both parents tried to get the young couple agree to an early marriage. But they were adamant that they would marry only after Veena completed her semester in college. The parents were shocked. “What will people say, yende devamme!” wailed Mrs. Menon. “Oh shut up mama,” said Veena, irritated with her mother’s habit of wailing in Malayalam. Vishal also told his mother not to start getting hysterical in Sindhi.

After prolonged discussions it was decided that the young couple must get married the next Sunday. With only five days left to go they decided to invite a few close relatives. The other families living in the same building could become guests from both sides. The marriage went off very well. Mrs. Sadarangani coached Veena on the intricacies of becoming a Sindhi wife. The marriage rituals went off smoothly. After the marriage ceremony, which was attended by a small group of relatives and friends, there was a reception lunch hosted by the bride’s father. The same evening a reception was hosted by the groom’s father. Everything went off very well. Everyone was impressed by the thoroughness with which the ceremony was conducted.

A few days after the marriage Mrs. Sadarangani noted that Veena’s tummy wasn’t growing. Her suspicions became stronger when she realised after a week that Veena's tummy was still just the same. When she asked Veena about it she just smiled. Finally, out of sheer desperation she dragged Veena to a doctor who confirmed that Veena wasn’t pregnant. Both sets of parents had another meeting over a cup of tea in the dining room of the Menons’ house. Both the youngsters were summoned and were asked to stand in front. They stood in front of their parents in semi-attention. They were subjected to another scolding and asked to explain their behaviour.

“Simple,” said Vishal, “we had a good reason to do this.” Both the fathers pounced upon him and asked him to tell them the reason. Vishal looked at Veena. Their eyes met. They smiled at each other nervously and held hands. Veena addressed all the parents, “We had figured out that if we seek permission for marriage all of you would have said no. We calculated that if we were to give you the shocking news of pregnancy you would insist that we get married. And that is exactly what happened. Instead of a love marriage we had an arranged marriage. And all of us are happy. Are we not?”

The parents did not know what to say. They realised that the kids had made fools of them. There was a pregnant silence for a few seconds and then Mr. Menon burst out laughing. His laughter was infectious. He was followed by Mrs. Sadarangani and then Mrs. Menon. The kids also burst out laughing. Finally, a reluctant Mr. Sadarangani who was still recovering from the shock of having lost almost a crore of rupees as dowry in Vishal’s marriage, also joined in. A few months later Veena told her mother-in-law that she was pregnant. Everybody believed her this time.
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(Originally posted in my weblog in Sulekha.com : http://dkvblog.sulekha.com/blog/posts.htm )

The Sadhu on the highway near Mhow .....

2007-02-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

I think this incident must have happened in 1984. I and my friend Prem had cycled 17 kilometres on the Agra Bombay Road from Mhow towards a lake named Yashwant Nagar Talab. A few kilometres outside Mhow the hilly terrain became green with forests. It was a beautiful sight. It was nice to be young and physically fit. On the way we stopped at a dhaba, where the truckers stop for food and rest, and had tea and some biscuits. We didn’t want to finish the stuff we were carrying with us. We passed various villages with quaint names. Gawli Palasiya, Jamli, Kuti, Yashwant Nagar. The lake or talab as it is known is due to a small dam which may well have been built before independence. I say this because it seems to be named after Yashwant Rao Holkar who was a ruler of the erstwhile Indore state.

When we cycled up a slope to reach the lake I kept quiet. I hadn’t told Prem where we were going. He was visiting his sister and brother-in-law who were posted in an Army establishment. He belonged to Trivandrum and he liked the change in scenery when he shifted from Kerala to the Malwa Plateau. We would often cycle into the countryside or go walking into the hills with other friends. That day when we climbed up the slope on our cycles and got a first glimpse of the lake I could hear Prem gasp. I wasn’t surprised. It was a beautiful sight. Forests, hills and a lake. It could have been heaven.

It must have been winter. There was a slight chill in the air. The lake was bathed with sunlight. So it was very tempting to stand on top of the dam and take a dip in the water. We did just that. As I was a non-swimmer I kept close to the dam for safety. But Prem had a nice swim. Drinking coffee from the thermos and eating the snacks we had brought made us feel on top of the world. While we were enjoying ourselves we saw a flock of wild birds swimming just above the water. They seemed like wild ducks to me. But as I am not very good at identifying wild birds at a distance I cannot say for sure. But I do remember this: As the flock turned in mid air they did so in such a way that each bird’s wing struck the water. The sound it generated was like a machine gun firing. Only there were no deadly bullets, just a lovely beat.

After spending a couple of hours there we started cycling back. On the way we came to a sadhu’s hut. We stopped to chat with him. The Sadhu, or holy man, looked very impressive in his saffron clothes. He was lean and thin nad had a long flowing beard. As Prem's hindi was weak I also doubled up as a translator. The Sadhu took us inside his small and clean hut. It had been constructed in a very simple and down to earth manner. I wasn't sure whether it could withstand a storm. He told us about how he had given up his family and his worldly wealth. He was fascinated to learn that Prem was from Kerala and that I was from an Army family. He was curious to know about Kerala and the Army. After a few minutes of chatting he took out his chillum (pipe) and filled it with tobacco and started puffing at it. Prem also took turns with him. I asked Prem whether it was only tobacco. I knew Prem loved grass. He winked at me and asked me if I wanted to try. “No thanks,” I replied. I have never connected to tobacco and grass. While they were smoking the chillum the sadhu kept speaking about how potent a force love was. He kept on and on about love and its power. We listened to him with rapt attention. He had almost hypnotised us with his powerful words.

Suddenly the tone of the Sadhu's voice changed and before we knew he was spewing filthy abuse and throwing stones. We turned to look and saw a stray dog running away. “Sala mera khana kha jata hai,” (“The damn thing eats up my food”). We were too shocked to say anything. Was this the same man who had renounced the world and all material possessions and had been giving us a long feel-good talk about love? It was a hilarious sight. It was clear that his sermon was over. The mood swing from one extreme to another had drained him. Once we had recovered from this verbal assault on the dog we decided to say goodbye. We were back to normal a few minutes after resuming. Once we were out of his hearing range we burst out laughing. We laughed so hard our stomachs ached.

As we cycled back home we kept laughing loudly. The change in mood had been so fast we had found it hard to believe. And the sweet, flowery language had become extremely abusive in a second or two. When we reached Prem’s sister’s house we sat on the verandah and enjoyed a cup of tea. Our aching muscles reminded us of the long cycle ride and the Sadhu’s invectives kept us in splits. As long as Prem was in Mhow all I had to do was to ask him whether he wanted to visit the dog-loving sadhu and he would burst out laughing and try to imitate the sadhu’s bad language in his broken hindi. I am not sure that I have seen the sadhu the past few times I have crossed that area. But these trips are generally in a car or bus. One of these days I must take my cycle and go down that road again. I may meet the same sadhu again. Unless he has got tired of renunciation and has returned to the big, bad world.

Visiting Dr R T Doshi's terrace farm in Mumbai; India

2006-12-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

I had read of Dr. R T Doshi in the late eighties. He is a retired industrialist who lives in Bandra, Mumbai and is fascinated by plants and the proper utilisation of waste biomass. What I read in the article was unbelievable. Here was a man who was using the crushed sugarcane from a nearby 'juice centre' and growing plants in open sacks. He had attained such a degree of success that his terrace was like a mini forest. He had even succeeded in growing strawberries in the humid Mumbai climate. Some years later I read about him again and saw him in a science program named Turning Point in Doordarshan. Seeing him on television added to the fascination I had developed for him and his methods. It was unbelievable that someone could use open sacks, sugarcane and kitchen waste and get the kind of results that he had got. But those were the pre-internet days and I could not follow up on my fascination which had bordered on obsession.

Sometime during the late nineties I read about Prof Dabholkar of Kolhapur and his Prayog Parivar and his unique method of teaching students using the humble postcard. It was also fascinating that someone who had taught mathematics for many years could become an expert on plants and was able to communicate with unlettered peasants and farmers - something many of our agricultural scientists just could not do. I will need another blogpost to do justice to Prof Dabholkar and his family of experimenters. I also came to know about a book titled Plenty For All written by Prof Dabholkar in which he wrote about his work and his philosophy. His simple ideas of harnessing the power of the sun and of biomass would appeal to anyone who liked a common sense approach to things. Through this book I was able to again read about Dr Doshi and I came to know that he was associated with Prof Dabholkar.

I also came to know about a booklet named City Farming which was written by Dr Doshi. I ordered a copy for myself. In this booklet Dr Doshi explains his method of city farming in which he uses biomass especially crushed sugarcane and very little soil to do wonders. To cut a long story short I rang up Dr Doshi and he was kind enough to invite me over to take a look at his city farm. I booked a seat on an Indore Mumbai bus and on a cold winter evening on a Saturday in January 1999 I took a bus ride to Mumbai.

Mumbai was warm when I arrived there. Dr Doshi's house "Jamunotry" on the 26th Road Bandra was easy to find. I was welcomed very warmly by Dr Doshi and his family. I also saw a wide spectrum of visitors from different areas of specialisation who had come to see his garden. I was asked to get ready and return. After a bath and breakfast l was taken up to the terrace by Dr Doshi and his assistant. It was an awesome sight. 1200 square feet of greenery on a rooftop. This included a coconut tree with fruit. Dr Doshi had also started experimenting with growing plants in drums and it was fascinating to see plants sprouting out of the sides of huge 200 litre drums. Each drum was dedicated to the kitchen waste from a neighbouring family and with the help of crushed sugarcane the Doshi family had converted their terrace into a mini farm. He called this community farming.

The bus ride back to Mhow was thrilling for the simple reason that I was infected with the enthusiasm that Dr Doshi had in him. Over the years I have experimented on a modest scale with growing plants using waste biomass and kitchen waste and have attained a fair degree of success. I also remember reading a talk by the Vietnamese Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh in which he compares the composting process of biomass with the composting process in our hearts and minds. Thich Nhat Hanh talks of conerting garbage to flowers and he says that we can do the same thing with our negative emotions. They are the garbage which life gives us and if we can compost them properly we can grow flowers of a different nature there. I had got these lines printed using a word processor and presented a copy each to Prof Dabholkar and to Dr Doshi.

In memory of that fantastic day and the fantastic work done by Dr Doshi here are a few photographs of his city farm.

Camera used: Yashica MF2

Below: A beaming Dr Doshi amidst his 'children'

Above and below: The greenery is so soothing...

Below: A coconut tree on the terrace. Dr Doshi's farm assistant is standing besides it.

Below: Tasty brinjals growing out of a drum.

Below: A date palm (khajoor) which one would normally see in a dry and arid area.

Below: A Papaya (papita) grows out of a drum.

Below: Bamboo growing in one corner of the terrace.

Below: I am not sure which plant this is. I would guess it is a chikoo. Just look at the richness.

I have read newspaper articles about many others in Mumbai and Pune who are trying this method and have attained varying degrees of success. But whenever I hear or read about such terrace/city farms my mind goes back to that sunday I spent in Bandra enjoying the sight of what Dr Doshi and his team had created through sheer hard work and scientific insight. Dr Doshi has been awarded the Padma Shri for his pioneering efforts in this area.

Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa

2006-12-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

I found this 1950 classic by Akira Kurosawa on google videos while doing a search for public domain movies.

The description given at google videos for this film is as follows: "This film is Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of Ryunosuke Akutagawa's short story dealing with the subjectivy(sic) of eyewitness evidence in the solving of a crime. In July 2006, a Japanese court euled (sic) that all Japanese films produced before 1953, including this one, are part of the Public Domain."
Playing time: 1 hr 24 min

Click here for google video search results on Kurosawa. These include his 1943 film Sugata Sanshiro which "depicts the early life of one of the pioneers in development of the martial art known as Judo in the late 19th century."
Playing time: 1 hr 19 mins.

John McLaughlin and Shakti (from 1974)

2006-12-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

John McLaughlin and Shakti

John Mc Laughlin is in India and the news made me feel nostalgic for the seventies... This piece from 1974 that I found at Youtube is the best tribute I can pay to John and Shakti.

As a viewer there puts it "Incredible! This brings back memories. I saw Shakti around 1976 or 1977. They played on campus at UC San Diego and blew away the crowd. The thing I remember most was John McLaughlin getting a standing ovation just for tuning up his guitar."

And if you click here you can see the many pieces on Shakti and McLaughlin available at Youtube.

2006-12-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan

the original....

2006-12-04T09:25:00.000-08:00

The Beatles - Let it be

"this song brings a tear to my eye. i dont see how people can not love ther music!! TRUE MUSICIANS!!" - a viewer at Youtube....

Cat Stevens singing 'Wild World '

2006-12-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

Cat Stevens singing Wild World

Cat Stevens singing Wild World

As a viewer at Youtube puts it: "Great song, great lyrics. A memory of someone special!".
A special thanks to Bess for reminding me of this number.

"Now that I've lost everything to you
You say you wanna start something new
And it's breakin' my heart you're leavin'
Baby, I'm grievin'
But if you wanna leave, take good care
Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear
But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
It's hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
I'll always remember you like a child, girl .... "

Read the complete lyrics here.

CAT STEVENS - where do the children play

2006-11-29T07:30:00.000-08:00

CAT STEVENS - where do the children play

One of my favourite songs... I remember reading the lyrics in a magazine named Youth Times (A Times of India Publication) edited by Anees Jung. One of the viewers at Youtube writes "This guy makes me wish I lived in the 70's". And another replies, " I did and it was awesome :)"
--------------------------------------------------------
"Well I think its fine, building jumbo planes.
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train.
Switch on summer from a slot machine.
Yes, get what you want to if you want, cause you can get anything.

I know weve come a long way,
Were changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play? ....."

... the complete lyrics are here

Kartik Purnima Mela (2006) at Janapao, Mhow (MP); India

2006-11-26T09:01:00.000-08:00

Location: The hill of Janapao, Village: Rajpura Kuti, Approximately 15 kms from Mhow on the Agra Bombay Road as one drives towards Mumbai, Tehsil: Mhow. District Indore. State: Madhya Pradesh, India

The day: Kartik Purnima - the first full moon after Diwali. This year the day fell on November 5, Sunday. The temple of Janapao is famous for a mela which is held on Kartik Purnima every year. This is the best time for a mela. It is exactly a fortnight after Diwali. The weather at this time of the year is excellent. Not warm at all. Slightly cold. I have been visiting this hill temple every Kartik Purnima from 1994 onwards. It is a big day in my calendar. It is the day I get to see thousands of villagers from near and far come to this temple to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva and to bathe in the temple pond at the top of the hill.

Janapao, according to local legend, is the place where Jamadagni, the father of Parasurama, lived. As Parasurama, one of the avatars of Vishnu is connected with the mythology of Kerala - the state I originally belong to - I get an actual feel of how mythology connects different parts of India.

The hill of Janapao isn't very high but it isn't an easy hill to climb either. It is supposed to be the second highest hill on the Malwa Plateau. I have come here on normal days too. Sometimes alone and sometimes with groups of trekkers. But nothing equals what I see on Kartik Purnima day. It is an awe inspiring sight to see old men and women climb up the hill barefeet. It is amusing to see young men trying to go as high as possible on their motorbikes. I guess the very idea of a pilgrimage is defeated when one makes the act of reaching there an easy one. Something like going to Vaishno Devi by helicopter.

I drove down till village Kuti on the 5th. I would have preferred reaching there by bus or even by cycling down but social commitments ate up a few hours between breakfast and lunch. And so I had to turn to one of my regular cab drivers for help. Leaving the car at a safe place. I went up the hill. But before that I spent some time at the mela. Savouring the atmosphere and clicking a few pictures. A policeman on duty wanted to know which newspaper I represented. I told him that these pictures were for the internet. I am not sure whether he understood.

The climb up was tough. But the sight of young children and their old grandparents also climbing the same hill motivated me a lot. I was out of breath as I climbed up. But I have learnt how to pace myself. This seems to be something I am getting better at with each passing year.

The village panchayat is out on this day. Arranging the mela with the help of policemen who have been assigned the job of enusring that the mela is held peacefully and the pilgrims complete their pilgrimage without any hitch.

The stretch of the busy Agra Bombay road which passes through the village gets blocked. Trucks loaded with goods have to stop or crawl through the crowds.

A mela without a giant wheel? No way! There is one here too.

One of the many shops selling tea and snacks. The ladoos and jalebis look tasty. But I'd rather not eat them. I go for the biscuits and tea. Much safer.

There are many vendors selling everything from chillies to combs. This young man is sitting with his pile of chillies. I forgot to ask him where he belongs to. In all probability he may have come from the plains of Nimar. Nimar is where the Narmada flows and is famous for the 'jwala mirchi' or 'fire chilly'.

I also see this young man advertising the berries he is selling. "Marwar ke bor" is what I hear him repeatedly saying in a loud voice. He tells me that these are from Marwar, Rajasthan. I remember the ber (berries) we used to pluck outside our house in Itarana Cantonment of the Alwar district of Rajasthan. I buy two rupees worth of ber. Their taste takes me back to my childhood. I continue walking.

Just before the main hill of Janapao is this temple dedicated to Hanuman. I see many villagers and pilgrims pay obeisance. I fold my hands and give my respects. But I do not stay back. I have started late today. It is near 3 pm. I must ascend, spend an hour on top and descend - all before it gets dark.

The climb begins. I have chosen the tougher of two paths. It is an annual ritual now. Since this is a tougher path there are less people on it. I am always wonderstruck at how women, especially old women climb up the hill. Many of them are barefeet. Not for them the costly pairs of trekking shoes and boots. This is something that they and their families must have been doing since many decades, if not centuries.

As I climb up I see groups of pilgrims descending. The common greeting of the Malwa area is 'Ram Ram'. Many I cross greet me thus. Many want to know why I and those who are climbing with me have chosen this path. "The other path is easier to climb," they tell me. But I prefer this path. Call it the path less travelled.

As I climb up I can see lakes formed by small dams in the distance. In this photograph we can see the lake of Golkheda. I have not been there for quiet some time now.

I have reached the top. I see pilgrims buying incense sticks, coconuts and sweets for the prasad before they enter the sanctum sanctorum.

Many, if not most, of the pilgrims take a dip in the pond or kund before they enter the temple. Some even collect the water in mineral water bottles.

People come from near and far. I see this tribal family heading towards the temple. Besides pilgrims from Dhar and Dewas I have also met pilgrims from Akola and Nagpur in Maharashtra. Indore and Nagpur used to be parts of Central India during the British days so it is not surprising to see people from these areas here.

Devotees worshipping a lingam outside the sanctum sanctorum.

Inside the temple....

The picture posted above was taken inside the sanctum sanctorum. The shivling can be seen. This is a small space not unlike a cave. Just enough space for 4 or 5 persons to stand. The ambience is awesome. The faith and belief of hundreds and thousands of pilgrims who have come here can be felt. I pay my respects to Shiva - the Hindu God of destruction.

On the way down I can see the lake which is known as Yashwant Nagar Talaab. I have often been there. I have gone through these forests towards the dam and lake on many an occassion. It is a beautiful place.

A group of children accost me. After much persuasion they convince me that I have to click their picture. "If you can't send us the picture you can keep it," they tell me. Their aim is that I must click their picture - that will make them happy. I am convinced. Their mothers who arrive a minute later laugh when I tell them how sweet the kids are. They give me their address. They live in a village named Bagdi. I am stunned by the openness with which they have accepted me. This is what life in villages and small towns is all about. Bagdi is a village which is on the way to the deserted fortress city of Mandu and the district headquartes of Dhar. The village next to it is Agdi. Children love reciting these names. Agdi Bagdi.

Two young boys sit with cobras. Luckily one doesn't see many like them. For each snake which gets captured alive at least four get killed in the attempt to catch them. I wish they had someone who could guide them and create a co-operative like Romulus Whitaker has done for the Irula tribals of Tamil Nadu. As I leave after clicking this picture one of the boys says "Photu to le liya ab kuchch paisa bhi de jao." ("You have clicked the picture you wanted. Now how about a coin or two.")He is a lovable rascal. I give him a rupee. But I am not happy doing it as I do not want to encourage the capture of snakes.

As I reach the base of this hill I pass this pair of trees. I have been seeing them for years. A banyan tree which is climbing on a mahua tree. Many years ago I overheard a lady from a village telling her companions that the mahua tree had taken a loan from the banyan tree in a previous birth. She was repaying the loan in this birth. An interesting story. I remembered it as I saw these trees again.

After walking for a kilometer I realise that I have reached the village and the highway . The car is waiting. I see many more pilgrims begin their climb. It will be very late when they return. But I am tired. Tired and happy. I will be here again next year fifteen days after Diwali. I will be here along with thousands of villagers and I will climb the hill of Janapao with them. This is an annual event and pilgrimage for me and will continue for as long as I can do it.

With Winter come the Camels and Sheep from Rajasthan to Mhow (MP); India

2006-11-12T20:44:00.000-08:00

The other day I met a Rajasthani peasant near the Khadey Hanuman temple in Mhow. He was part of a group which was herding a few hundred sheep. He wanted to know if he could get some water nearby. I told him that the river Gambhir was close and though it is like a stream as it flows through Mhow his sheep could drink from it. I asked him where he was from and he told me that he was from the Pali district of Rajasthan. That he and his group had left Pali in the Bhadon month and would return after holi. That would be around nine months. When I asked him where he would be going from Mhow he asked me "Oh, is this Mhow?" I was stunned and I also smiled. He only had a rough idea of where he would be going but it seemed that over a period of a few months he and his flock of sheep would be back with plenty of wool for their employer - the Seth, as they called him.

This is an annual feature of winter in Mhow and Malwa and the local papers invariably print a photograph or two. Friends from the village tell me that if there are no crops in a field then the farmers like the sheep to graze there as they leave behind dung which fertilizes the field.

While going through my old photogaphs I found three which I had taken in the mid nineties. I am uploading them here. I am trying to click a few pictures of them this year as well. And the moment I do that I promise to upload the pics.

Guns and Roses in Mhow

2006-11-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

The Infantry Memorial. The Infantry is the spearhead of all armies. The Infantry School - the alma mater of the Indian Infantry - is in Mhow.

Photograph taken at Ambedkar Garden Mhow (formerly known as Prince of Wales Garden) on a Sunday morning in 1995.

Photograph taken at Beircha Lake Mhow in October 2006. I think this is a Pakistani tank but I am not sure. I wonder whether an Indian tank is similarly displayed in some Army cantonement in Pakistan.

Diwali 2006, Thoughts and Images from Mhow (MP); India

2006-10-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

From Dhan Teras to Bhai Dooj. October 19 to October 24 2006.
Photographs taken at Mhow Bazaar, Village Gawli Palasiya and the Brahmakumari Rajyog Kendra

Cycling down Elkington Road in Mhow (MP); India

2006-10-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

Elkington Road in Mhow is one of few roads which still retains its original name. The only other road I can remember which hasn't been renamed is Gillespie Road near Swarg Mandir. A few years ago when a journalist friend from Pune was visiting Mhow and I was showing her the old British graves in Mhow we came upon Major General Gillespie's grave. Talking of roads, Dennis Road has become Shivaji Marg, Middlesex Road is Vikram Path, Plowden Road is Dr. Rajendra Singh Road, Peyton Road is Naurarang Path, Montieth Road is now Bhaya Road.... The British had named these roads after their generals and those who had helped make India the jewel in the crown. It is right that these names be gradually renamed. They are an embarrassment to the present day Britisher though many an Indian would like these names to remain. Elkington Road isn't very far from where I live and it connects General's Road to the AB Road. The AB Road is a national highway and connects Agra to Mumbai. The interesting thing about Elkington Road is that it isn't a road anymore, just a dirt track. But it has a history of its own.

The road marker on General's Road. You can read 'Elkington Road' written on the stone.

The other day I cycled down Elkington Road. Till 2001 a nullah used to run parallel to this road and after crossing the AB Road from under a small bridge it would merge with the Gambhir river not far from the Khadey Hanuman temple. The Gambhir is in infancy in Mhow as it is born in the hills near the temple of Janapao 15 kms from Mhow. It joins the Kshipra near Ujjain. Many a pilgrim who bathes in the Kshipra during the Kumbh Mela in Ujjain doesn't know that the waters are often of the Gambhir.

In 2001 the Indian Army dug up two lakes near this road. Overnight this area became a mini natural sanctuary with a drastic increase in the number of birds visiting it. I have seen lapwings, darters, egrets, partridge and peafowl in this area. I have also seen mongoose, cobras and wild hares. But along with the wildlife this area also started attracting visitors and the odd courting couple. At times the crowd here in the evenings does tend to be a bit noisy. It is interesting how a body of water can change a place from a dull to an interesting place or from a quiet place to a noisy one.

As I cycled down that day I saw an Army guard deflating the tyres of a cycle. A young man on a milk delivery round had decided to use the area as a public lavatory. The guard was livid and sought my psychological support. "Why did you have to use this area?" I asked the young man, "Consider yourself lucky that you haven't been arrested." He folded his hands and apologised to the guard and sped away. Had it not been for the guards this area could well have become a public toilet. Sad how we leave our mark in places of beauty.

In 1979 I and my classmate Gurdip Singh Chimni used to ycle down this road on the way to Government Degree College Mhow. Walking down this road was fun even before the lakes were created. In August 1995 I was walking in this area during heavy rains and I saw a snake getting into the water - my presence and the noise I made had disturbed it. The day I took these pictures I happened to see a peahen and its chick. But she had seen me before I had seen them so they vanished into the undergrowth before I could click a picture.

A few weeks ago a good friend had visited Mhow and I had walked with her down this road till the Khadey Hanuman temple. It was a lovely walk and it gave her an idea of the countryside around Mhow. I dedicate this blog entry to her.

Here are some of the pictures I clicked that day:

The view as we walk down from General's Road

A glimpse of the water as I get closer and go off the road a little to the left.

Wild plants growing by the roadside.

A profusion of grass and reeds.

Real close. The waters are calm as winter approaches.

Calm and quiet. I look back at the path I have travelled down.

My bicycle looks good if seen from far!

I can see some date palms as I near the end of the road.

The view from the Agra Bombay Road.

It should be interesting to see how the area changes as winter progresses. Will keep all of you out there posted.

Jatra 2006 - the Marathi Festival held in Indore (MP); India

2006-10-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

Jatra is an annual feature in the cultural calendar of Indore - the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh and the erstwhile capital of the Holkar Kingdom. A Marathi festival conducted by the Marathi Social Group Indoor (as Indore is traditionally known among the Maharashtrian community) it is usually held just after Dassera. I had attended it last year and savoured the ambience, the dances, the music, the snacks and also a traditional Marathi meal. But I had forgotten to take my camera. Something I regretted. This year Jatra 2006 was held at the Poddar Plaza, near Gandhi Hall from the 6th to the 8th of October. I visited it on the 8th. Driving down from Mhow, where I live took me about an hour. Iqbal, who happens to be one of the regulars cab drivers I hire, told me that he would be breaking his Ramzan fast at 6:15 pm or so and that he would definitely pick me up by 7 pm. He was true to his word and we were out of Mhow by 7 pm. I took my camera, a simple Yashica MF2, along and captured some images from the last day. Here they are. A beautiful evening. Something I have begun to look forward to every year.

The Lavani dances. These performances were watched by a packed audience:

Two of the many stalls in the food zone

The traditional Marathi meal. You can see the menu on the blackboard. A sitting in a traditional Marathi meal is known as a pangat. I had read this word in the program schedule but it wasn't till I received an email from my friend Mohan that I came to know of its meaning. Mohan has a strong Indore connection but thanks to his Army job is rarely able to visit Mhow and Indore. I look forward to attending a Jatra in his company if he can make it at the right time. It will be fascinating going around with him.

Time to say goodbye. People walking in as I make my way towards the parking lot. I would love to stay longer but I am 25 kms from my house and would like to reach home before it is too late. Till the next year and the next Jatra

Images from Beircha Lake, Mhow (MP), India

2006-10-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

Photographs taken on October 2 2006; Vijayadashmi day
The Bengali Samaj had brought the idol of Durga for immersion (visarjan) and I had accompanied them.

Durga Puja at the Narnouli Dharamshala, Mhow (MP), India

2006-10-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

Durga Puja. Memories of the puja holidays in Shillong. Thoughts on my family deity the Goddess Shakti - the divine energy behind Shiva. For the third year in succession I went and spent time on the ashtami, navami and dashami (the 8th, 9th and tenth days of the puja) with a small group of families at the Narnouli Dharamshala in Mhow. I must thank my friend Soumitra Choudhary who had insisted two years ago that I must attend the puja celebrations. When I went there I realised that I knew most of the families. The Ghosh family, the Mohantys, the Bannerjees.... As the Bengali community does not have its own community hall this dharamshala built by the Marwari community is used by them. I try my best to make it to the pandal on the saptami (7th day), ashtami, navami and dashami

I remember attending the entertainment program put up by the Bengalis of Mhow during the late sixties and early seventies. The Bengali community associated with the Army continues to hold its puja celebrations in a ground near the Military Hospital Mhow. This is not surprising as the Army Medical Corps has a very old relationship with Bengal and it dotors. I wonder if there is any Military Hospital in India without a Bengali doctor posted there. At any given time there is at least one Bengali doctor posted in Military Hospital Mhow. I don't remember any time during my childhood when I didn't see a Bengali doctor in a military hospital.

The three days went by in a daze. A friend was visiting Mhow on the ashtami so we went for the pushpanjali together. Stayed back and had a very tasty lunch sitting on a mat. Began with brinjals and ended with payas.

Navami was a special day. The puja ended with the visarjan on dashami. Before that the married women bade farewell to the Goddess with vermilion and sweets. It was as if a small group were playing Holi. Very graceful indeed the Sindhur Khela. And before the idols were brought down there was also the ritual of trying to see the Goddess's feet in a mirror kept in a tray full of water. A friend sent me an sms that I must take a look at Durga's eyes. She had spent some years of her childhood in Kolkatta and her friends there had told her that Durga is sad on Dashami - the day she has to leave.

After taking the idols in a procession down Sanghi Street and Main Street we drove down to Beircha lake. The statues were immersed there. Ganesh, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Kartikeya were immersed with Durga.

A small cultural fest was held after everybody had changed and come back. Barring one or two songs in Bengali the remaining songs, items and jokes were in Hindi. A quaint way of saluting the Malwa area of Madhya Pradesh where we live. Any non-Bengali would also have felt at home. It all ended with a tasty dinner of puris, aloo sabji, daal and mithai. I have taken a few photographs which I am uploading here. Till the next year's puja celebrations.

Short Stories from DNA-Me

2006-09-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

Short stories published in DNA- ME. These are links which will enable fiction lovers to see the stories in pdf format. Wanted to do it for myself but posting it as an entry in my blog will enable more pople to read these stories. DNA Me accepts these stories through sulekha. One can email a story (within a 1000 words) to dname@sulekha.net. I will keep updating this blog entry with links to more stories. Number of stories now: 49.
Links to all entries available here.

============================================
1) 4 December 2005: Stranger on the doormat by Akshaya Kumar

2) 11 December 2005: Tito and the Call Girls by Akshaya Kumar

3) 25 December 2005: Almost an affair by Heena Karekar

4) 1 January 2006: The Wanderer by Alex Royo

5) 8 January 2006: A new pair of glasses by Suniti Joshi

6) 15 Jan 2006: Pebbles by Maninder Cheema

7) 22 Jan 2006: In Agony by Sugandha Jain

8) 29 Jan 2006: The Bigger Bang by John P Mathew

9) 5 Feb 2006: Dear Daddy by Aparna Pendse

10) 12 Feb 2006: Relationship by A Thiagarajan

11) 19 Feb 2006: The Bed by Roli Bhushan-Malhotra

12) 26 Feb 2006: "You always..." by Ram Keswani

13) 5 Mar 2006: Stolen Moments by Gillian Da Costa

14) 12 Mar 2006: One track mind by Shoma Narayana

15) 19 Mar 2006: Sparkle in a closet by Vidhya Sridhar

16) 26 Mar 2006: The One by K.A.Anand

17) 02 Apr 2006: The Pink Hairdryer by Hema Raman

18) 09 Apr 2006: A Common Girl by Ghazala Mughal

19) 16 Apr 2006: The Weekly Magazine by P. Gitanjali

20) 23 Apr 2006: Link removed on author's request.

21) 30 Apr 2006: The priest at Ooty by Sourabh De

22) 7 May 2006: Waiting by Gayatri Lobo Gajiwala

23) 14 May 2006: Equations by Vikram Karve

24) 21 May 2006: Fragrances by Shefali

25) 28 May 2006: The Muse by Razvin Ramdarain

26)04 Jun 2006:How the wives got pregnant by Govindraj S

27) 11 Jun 2006: The last wish by Akash Mohimen

28) 18 June 2006: The Rain by Ishita Marwah

29) 25 Jun 2006: The Guest by Tarun Durga

30) 02 Jul 2006: Love Thy Neighbour byPayal Shah-Karwa

31) 09 Jul 2006: The World of Raja by Raghu Vamsi

32) 16 Jul 2006 : The Choice by Ramya Sethuraman

33) 23 Jul 2006: No Medals For Me by Dev Kumar Vasudevan

34) 6 Aug 2006: The Meeting by Sheela Jayawant

35) 13 Aug 2006: The Sniper by Shrikant Dash

36) 20 Aug 2006: The Train Sweeper by Pritika Pradhan

37) 27 Aug 2006: Dogs, Cats & Su by Arunachalam Kumar

38) 3 Sep 2006 First Kiss by Piyush

39) 10 Sep 2006 Dear Diary by Sameer Shah

40) 17 Sep 2006 Friends in High Places by Jyotsna

41) 24 Sep 2006 By Pass by Anjana Jha

42) 01 Oct 2006 Gitopadesha by Srinath Perur

43) 08 Oct 2006 The Vanishing by R Joshi

44) 22 Oct 2006: Cats by Daksha Hathi

45) 29 Oct 2006: What Did My Son Do? by Anil Thadathil

46) 5 Nov 2006: Of Likes and Dislikes by Nargis Natarajan

47) 12 Nov 2006: When Understanding Fails by Nasreen Modak

48) 19 Nov 2006: Sister Amrita, Ward No. 6 by Manjul Bajaj

49) 26 Nov 2006: The Place of Many Doors by Sourav Mohapatra

My idea of heaven is watching Ella Fitzgerald singing

2006-09-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

Sharing an accidental discovery. A video on Download.com.
The Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie number "Flyin' Home". 6 minutes and 22 seconds of heavenly stuff. Ella at the height of her musical powers in 1979. Singing at the Montreux Jazz Festival with the Count Basie Orchestra.

Well dear reader why don't you stop reading and start listening? Click here please.

And this link will allow you to watch Ella and Count Basie singing "A-Tisket, A-Tasket". 10 minutes and 33 seconds of heaven. These numbers are from Ella&Basie: 'The Perfect Match' '79.

Thanks cnet.

Ganesha in Central Street Mhow (MP), India

2006-09-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

Sept 4 2006. Monday. A day before Onam. I was passing through Central Street Mhow when I saw this clay idol of Ganesha. It looked very attractive. The evening puja was yet to start so there were only a few boys sitting at the pandal. A photographer's studio opposite the pandal attracted my attention. I asked the owner if he could click my picture with Ganesha in the background. He was only too happy to oblige me. Two days later the festival of Anant Chaturdashi was held. And all the idols were taken for immersion. Not far away in Indore the number of Ganeshas which were collected for joint immersion at the Narmada came to a staggering 25,000. I personally feel that the time has come for us to seriously consider making Ganeshas in a more eco-friendly and bidegradable manner so that water bodies are not polluted with paints and other toxic materials. Ganesha would be happy if we could achieve that.
p.s.I did a google search for eco-friendly Ganeshas and I found this article from The Hindu dated 29 Aug 2006. It is fascinating to read about some of the items used in making Ganesha idols in Vishakhapatnam. Ganga clay, water colours from Kolkatta, black grapes, nails, `navadhanyalu', coconuts, terracota... and here is another article, also from The Hindu.
Kalpavriksh and its efforts towards making Ganesh puja ecosensitive.
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The Ganeshas of Mumbai (from rediff.com)

A quiet Onam at home in Mhow (MP); India

2006-09-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

Niraparayum...Nilavilakkum...Pinne orupidi thumpapoovum, manasil nirachu orupadu snehavumayi veendum onam varavayi... Orayiram Onashamsakal... An SMS sent by a dear friend.

The day before yesterday was Onam. Telephone calls and sms messages. Emails. I missed my brothers, my sisters-in-law and my nieces. And also my uncles, aunts, cousins and my maternal grandmother in our village in Kerala. A retired soldier who belongs to Kerala came home but I was sad to see that he was drunk. I accepted his greetings and greeted him too. Told him that I didn't have the fifty rupees he wanted for 'emergency work'. He came down to ten rupees but I stood my ground. He left with some embarassment on his face. I am sure it wasn't Mahabali testing my ability to recognize him in any form. An ex-classmate landed up at home unannounced. We were meeting after 26 years. Unfortunately he arrived well before any dish was cooked so all I could offer him was a cup of tea. Just before lunch another guest dropped in unannounced. He was lucky enough to sample some of the lovely payasam my mother had made. As he had cycled down he relished every spoonful.

I and my parents celebrated Onam quietly. My mother didn't have the time to do all that she wanted to. So I helped her make a simple floral design on the floor of the verandah. I used a piece of chalk and drew a simple design. Used small green leaves as a base. My mother allowed the maid to help me. I asked her to help me pluck the flowers of the lantana bush from the hedge and then I used that to fill in the petals of the design. Nothing great. But it looked nice. The garden is a profusion of green. Different shades of green. But very few flowers. Because of a bandh I could not go to Phool Chowk and buy marigold flowers as I do every year. We didnt have enough plantain leaves in the garden to use as plates. It is very rare that this happens. We live in a semi-dry area so I must make sure that this doesn't happen next year. I cut a piece off a small one to serve Onam food to the gods in the puja room. We decided to eat the Onam meal in stainless steel plates.

Lunch was a tasty affair. My mother had ordered vegetables the previous day from Qadir bhai in the vegetable market. Qadir bhai knows the malayalam names of almost all vegetables. We had parripu (daal, lentils- for my malayalam-challenged friends), Sambar, Aviyal, Toran made of finely shredded cabbage, Inji curry (also known as inji puli - a tasty curry made of ginger), Pachchadi made with lauki (bottle gourd) in curd, Sharkara Verrati (fried banana pieces dipped in jaggery), Naranga curry (a very tasty pickle of lemons in brine along with pieces of ginger and green chillies, really yum!) and ada prathaman payasam. Now, if you don't know what payasam is then you'd better stop reading this blog post. :)))

My Dad tried to walk with me till the dining table. But he was too weak to walk the full distance so he sat down on a chair in front of the study table in his room and we served him his Onam lunch there. In 1948 he had walked from Leh to Kargil. And then a year later from Kargil to Srinagar. He was a young armyman then. He has so far refused to use a wheel chair. Maybe I should convince him to start using one. In the evening I cycled down to the house of a Kannadiga family with some payasam and bay leaves (curry patta) in a bag. A small gesture full of love and affection which is almot impossible to make during a normal day in our hyperactive lives. A few friends came home in the evening and tasted the lovely payasam. One of them stayed back and had dinner too. He had tasted the Onam food last year too. "The thing I like about your mother's cooking is that the food doesn't feel heavy, no matter how much I eat," he has often commented. I agree. Anyone who hasn't eaten the vegetarian food of Kerala has missed something great. The dishes made for Onam lunch will last another two days. And they get tastier. Or is that my imagination?

A very special friend who lives far away kept in touch with me throughout the day by sms and chat. And that made the day even more special. Here's wishing peace, prosperity and happiness to all of you. Happy Onam.

The death of a 200 year old Banyan tree in Mhow (MP) India

2006-08-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

(Monday 21 Aug 2006)

When people think of Mhow and especially so when they think of Mhow bazaar they think of the banyan tree somewhere midway on Main Street (Bombay Bazaar). Whenever I passed on the road below it, I felt a coolness. And the small Bhairav temple below it gave it a nice ambience. If one passed below it when the sun was about to set one had to be extremely careful for one of the birds could decide to drop something which would land with a plop on one's helmet or shirt. At this time one could hear the chatter of thousands of birds as they perched on the branches and prepared for bed.

(Monday 21 Aug 2006)

Well, all that changed last Friday. I was in Malwa Market getting some pages xeroxed at Inder Photo Copy when the electricity failed. I felt very irritated. But when Lalit, who works there, told me that the banyan tree on Main Street had fallen I felt very sad. I took a visit there and I could see it leaning precariously. The local authorities had arrived and were busy ensuring that it did not crash to the ground and cause loss of life and property. The temple at the foot of the tree had developed cracks due to the huge pressure on it and Karachi Tailors was also in a bad shape.

(Monday 21 Aug 2006)

Locals of Mhow tell me that this tree is more than 200 years old. That means that this tree was there even before the Battle of Mahidpur in 1818 when the British under John Malcolm defeated the Holkars who ruled Indore. It was as a result of this loss that the Holkars had given Mhow to the British under the treaty of Mandsaur to be developed as a Cantonment.

My childhood classmate Raj who lives nearby on Bhoj Marg took me there on Sunday when I had gone to his house for lunch. I clicked some photographs with my Yashica MF2 camera. I felt sad when I saw the condition of the tree. Can't it be transplanted, I asked myself. I think that they had transplanted a huge banyan in Chennai some years ago. As it would take some more days for me to finish the camera roll I went to Pradeep Studio on Main Street and asked Arshad if he could take some pictures for me with a digital camera. He promised to do so. And when I went today he gave me the photographs which I have uploaded here.

Sanjeev Kumar of Kumar Radios told me about a Parsi couple with a Mhow connection who visited Mhow after many years and spent a fair amount of time below the tree while the lady sketched it.

It is sad when a tree dies. During last year's rains the Jungli Jalebi tree which stood near the bus stop at Dreamland Chowk fell down. I remember seeing that tree from my childhood days.

(Thursday 24 Aug 2006)

A banyan tree needs space for its aerial roots to come and enter the earth. This heritage tree of Mhow did not have the space to do so. A few days ago I was standing on the banks of the Gambhir river near the Khadey Hanuman temple and I saw a huge banyan tree there with a large canopy and many columns of aerial roots embedded in the ground. I also remember the banyan tree with the huge canopy in Beircha Lake. And there is one on General's Road too. It is just before the turning for Dunn Marg as we go from the Ambedkar Garden towards Signals Vihar. It also doesn't seem to have sufficient space for its roots to enter the ground - but it doesn't seem to be in as much danger as the fallen tree. I remember the banyan tree which used to stand near the bust of Jawaharlal Nehru opposite the Bank of India. Part of Malwa Market is there now. The tongas used to stand below in the shade. Now the tongas are gone and so has the tree.

(Thursday 24 Aug 2006)

Ustad Bismillah Khan is no more

2006-08-21T01:16:00.000-07:00

Ustad Bismillah Khan (March 21 1916- August 21 2006)

Sad news. Shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan, son of Varanasi, is no more. Read the newsreport in rediff.

It is said that Jawaharlal Nehru had insisted that he play the shehnai in New Delhi on August 15 1947. There is still some confusion about whether he played in Delhi on that day and if he did play then where did the performance take place? Was it at the Red Fort? Was it at the Viceroy's Palace (today's Rashtrapati Bhavan)?

Falstaff's tribute to the Ustaad. (Thanks to Amit Varma's blog for informing me of this)
Wikipedia entry on the Ustad.
Raji Gopalan's tribute to the Ustad on his birthday in 2005 . (From the Hindu March 18 2005)
Home page of the Ustad at musicnirvana.com

Walking in the forests near Mehendikund, Mhow (MP) India

2006-08-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

On a Sunday afternoon in July, I and Vijay left for the waterfall of Mehendikund (Mehendi = henna; kund=pool) which is around a dozen kilometres from my house. Vijay works in Indore, 25 kms away. He is the physiotherapist of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket team. When he told me that he had never been to Mehendikund my initial inertia evaporated and I told him that we were going. It was an overcast day with light drizzle. Definitely not a perfect day for taking photographs. We went on his motorbike. I prefer walking or cycling but we were short of time as we were leaving post-lunch.

[Vijay (and I) descend the slope towards the stream]

The drive towards Mehendikund was breathtaking. The countryside was all green. We crossed the villages of Ashapura and Badgonda. A left turn from Badgonda took us to an earthen dam named Nakheri. When I had first visited this area in 1979 the dam was being built. I and my college mates of Government Degree College Mhow, or GDC Mhow, as it was then known, were on a long walk on that Sunday twenty seven years ago.
We had left just after breakfast and reached back home well after dark.

My photographs:
[My shoes had got wet a few minutes ago, so I was past caring]

After reaching the dam we drove into the forest and had to backtrack as the first stream we encountered (there are three) was too slushy and we were scared that the motorbike would get stuck in the mud. We went to to keep the bike in a cattle shed. But the farmer who owned it showed us another way. I had gone by this way many years ago and had forgotten about it. The drive through the forest till the village of Badhiya took barely a minute. At Badhiya we saw two tribals ploughing a field. After spending a few moments talking to them we headed toward the gorge at the top of Mehendikund waterfall. It was green all around. It felt good to be alive.

We parked the bike on top of the gorge and walked downhill through thick forest. We encountered a group of picnickers who were in high spirits thanks to the bottles of whisky that they were carrying. They invited us to join their party but we said a polite no and continued walking along the stream towards the waterfall. On reaching the fall we spent a few moments admiring the rush of water. This is one forest which has not lost its green cover with the passage of time. I would say it had become greener. Very soon the picnickers also joined us at the falls. Some of them got into the water and swam towards the fall. Vijay also decided to join them. I stood at the bank of the pool and watched him and the others who were already there. As it was overcast I am not sure of the quality of photographs. I continue to use my old and trusted Yashica MF2.

[Thats me, while crossing a stream]

Suddenly it started raining. We retraced our way back. The motorbike ride home was as thrilling as the earlier ride. Only it had got dark. Was almost eight pm by the time Vijay dropped me home. Tired but rejuvenated - that is how I would have described my condition as I took off my shoes. Must do this again.

Hansdehar - the first Indian village to upload itself

2006-08-18T01:20:00.000-07:00

I read about Hansdehar in a weblog a few days ago. But I lost track of whose weblog it was. A few minute ago while I was visiting the Reuters website I read about it again. Hansdehar is a village in Haryana and it is the first Indian village which has uploaded itself onto the internet. For a village which is not yet connected to the internet this is a major step.

According to Adnan Abidi of Reuters:
"Hansdehar village has uploaded itself onto the Internet, giving the outside world a glimpse of life in rural India. Visitors to Hansdehar village's Web site (www.smartvillages.org) can see the names, jobs and other details of its 1,753 residents, browse photographs of their shops and read detailed specifications of their drainage and electricity facilities."

The middle aged, the women and the elderly would like their village's presence on the net to bring more prosperity. The young want the net to give them more opportunities to try their luck in the cities and abroad. It will be interesting to see how the internet helps this village to change.

Read more about it here.

The legend of Shillong Peak

2006-08-17T22:57:00.000-07:00

Saw this article in the INNER VOICE column of today's (Aug 18) Hindustan Times (Delhi edition). IT is titled Shillong Peak: Legend of God incarnate and is by Lapynshai Syliem. Abridged from The Evolution of Khasi Music: A Study of the Classical Content (Regency). It is a beautiful story of a beautiful girl named Lir and her son U Biel Shu Long. It is after the son that Shillong got its name. Read the full story by clicking here.

Posing for a photograph

2006-08-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

It is like a ritual. A group of friends or a family goes to a photographer's studio and get themselves photographed in a setting of their choice. Very often those who go for their photograph are married couples. The results can not be described in words. What comes across is the innocence of millions of our compatriots who participate in this ritual with gusto.

For more pictures click and reach this page on the funtoosh site from where I got the above pic too.

And I thought tea was a safe and healthy drink

2006-08-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

I am a tea fan. I like tea. I believe that black tea and green tea are very good for health. But is the tea that the average Indian drinks really beneficial? A few months ago I read about fluoride poisoning by drinking black tea and about how the milk we put in it helps in 'killing' the fluoride. A few days ago I read this article by management guru Gurcharan Das in the Sunday Times of India (Aug 12) in which he has flayed NGOs and the Indian government for targetting cola majors Coca Cola and Pepsi for pesticide content in their products. According to him the colas we drink in India are as safe, if not safer, than the colas sold in the West. What he writes about tea has made me worried. In his article he writes and I quote "According to European norms (EU), tea contains 187,300 times the pesticide than water used in colas. If hypothetically our colas had exceeded allowable levels by 30 times, I could still drink 6,200 glasses of cola and I would have less pesticide in my body than a cup of tea." (Italics mine) If this is true, and I do not see any reason to doubt him, then it is definitely a cause for worry as the per capita consumption of tea in India is much higher than the per capita consumption of cola drinks. The Government of India, especially the Ministry of Health, should go into this issue with all seriousness. It would be horrible if it is later found out that we have been behaving like Don Quixotes. I must add that I am not a fan of cola drinks and I feel that they are contributing in a major way to obesity and diabetes - two horrible lifestyle diseases which are assuming epidemic proportions in India. But I used to think that tea was perhaps the safest beverage to drink. Now it seems that I was wrong. I feel sad and cheated. Does anyone here know the truth?

How to score a self-goal by Gurcharan Das; Sunday Times of India; 12 August 2006

Maria Scharff - the collage artist

2006-08-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

"No road leads the way. The path follows behind. The journey itself is home." - Anonymous (One of Margi Scharff's favourite quotes)

The latest issue of SPAN the magazine brought out by the U.S. Embassy in India tells me about a collage artist named Margi Scharff. The article is titled An Artist's Pilgrimage and is by Daniel B Haber a Kathmandu based writer. Margi is from Los Angeles and she lives in the Paharganj area of New Delhi - the favourite haunt of backpackers. She conducts writing workshops for underpreviliged children. She is also undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer. She collects her raw materials from the roadside. Discarded newspapers and magazines, posters, labels, matchboxes, incense boxes, you name it...
Read More about her:
In pdf format: An Artist's Pilgrimage by Daniel B Haber in SPAN (recommended, opens in new window)
The same article in html (sans pictures)
Her weblog
Patterns of Life: Margi Scharff's 'Road Collages' by Philip Reeves (National Public Radio)

Kavad Yatris on the streets of Mhow

2006-08-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

It happened a few days ago. I think it was on Monday 24 July 2006. I was on my scooter in Sanghi Street Mhow when I saw a huge saffron mass heading towards me. It was a group of Kavad Yatris. The worshippers of Shiva who walk barefoot and take the waters of a holy river to a prominent Shiva temple. I parked my scooter at the Kotwali Chowk opposite Oxford Book Depot. I was happy when I saw my camera roll still had a few shots in it.

In this part of India (Malwa and Nimar) the Kavad Yatris take the waters of the Narmada (the Narmada is supposed to be the daughter of Shiva) from the temple towns of Maheshwar or Omkareshwar and go to Ujjain via Mhow and Indore. I have often heard it said that Mhow got its name because it is between Maheshwar and Omkareshwar. There is another theory that Mhow is so named because it is short for Military Headquarters of Western India. I prefer the former theory as the name Mhow is supposed to be older than 1818 - the year the English under John Malcom defeated the Holkars at the Battle of Mahidpur and were given Mhow for a Cantonement.

After reaching Ujjain these worshippers offer the water, which they collect in pitchers and tie at the end of staves, to Lord Shiva at the temple of Mahakaal. The lingam here is a jyotirlinga and is also known as Dakshinmukhi as it is the only jyotirlinga which faces south. It is a tough walk. Omkareshwar and Maheshwar are in the plains of Nimar and these pilgrims ascend almost 70 kms of the Vindhyachal mountains as they reach Mhow on the edge of the Malwa plateau. And they do it barefeet. Even a tough infantryman would say "Well done!" That is the strength that faith can give. There are times I have seen women among the kavadiyas (as they are known). The going from Mhow is relatively smooth as the terrain till Ujjain is mostly plain. It is roughly 23 kms from Mhow to Indore and then another 65 kms or so from Indore to Ujjain.

Many of these kavad yatris are regulars and they time off during Shravan (July) and devote it to Shiva. Malwa and Nimar are areas which are primarily Shiva worshipping. 17 kms from Mhow is the hill temple of Janapao which is famous for its Shiv temple. According to local legend this is where the ashram of Jamadagni the father of Lord Parshuram used to be. It is from this hill that two rivers - the Chambal and the Gambhir originate. The Chambal is a mere trickle here and one would find it hard to believe that after a few hundred kilometres it becomes a river which is associated with violence and dacoits. The Gambhir flows quietly towards Ujjain where it merges with the Kshipra. It is more of a stream as it flows through Mhow. The English had named it Cad's River as it flowed through Mhow. The Army golf course is just besides this river.

I have been seeing these Kavad Yatris ever since I have come to Mhow in 1979. I wonder whether I would be able to take time off during Shravan and walk with them from the Narmada to Mahakaal. If that materialises it would truly be a pilgrimage undertaken from the deepest recesses of my heart.

The procession turned at the end of Sanghi Street and headed down M.G.Road when I intercepted it somewhere near Gujarati Stores. The guru leading it ordered the saffron mass to stop. I was embarassed as I wanted to click them while they were walking. He may well have thought that I was from some local newspaper. The second picture (top, centre)is more natural. It is good that I was carrying my trusted Yashica MF2 that day.

Seeing my first short story in print....

2006-07-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

A short story (No Medals For Me) I posted in my blog in Sulekha has been published in this week's DNA ME Sunday Supplement (Daily News and Analysis). The child in me is thrilled. Satya Saran, editor DNA Me, had sent me an email some weeks ago.She had written that she had liked the story and that she was 'taking' it. I used to check every Sunday whether it was published or not. I happened to read some good stuff. Including stories sent by others of the Sulekha gang.But I never saw my story. Was pretty sure that I would see it when I was pretty sure that it wouldnt be printed. And that is what happened today morning. Sharing my happiness with all of you out there in the blogosphere. Thanks to all my friends who said that they liked it - Priyanka, Deepti, Jai. Thanks Sulekha. A story I never wrote on paper has now been printed on paper!!!

A direct link to the story as it is printed. (Page 28; Zoom in)

Better still you can see the story as a pdf file with crystal clear clarity. Here is page 1 and here is page 2.

Village Jalahmajra in Punjab loves its daughters

2006-07-16T01:57:00.000-07:00

Oh, my son's my son till he gets him a wife, But my daughter's my daughter all her life. - Old English proverb.

An African proverb goes "It needs a village to raise a child". Village Jalahmajra in Punjab's Nawanshahr district is living proof of this adage. Jalahmajra has achieved a healthy sex ratio of 1020 girl to 1000 boys. This, in a state which has an abysmally low sex ratio of 798 girls for every 1000 boys. One of the catalysts for this change is the work done by Krishan Kumar, a senior administrative official of the district. The Jalahmajra effect can be seen on 70 nearby villages too. These villages are very close to the national average of 927 females to 1000 males - not a figure tha we can be proud of. Jalahmajra village will get a 3 lakh rupee award instituted by the Punjab government for any village which has more girls than boys. Some years ago the Akal Takht had issued an edict that Sikhs should abstain from female foeticide. I am not sure what the effects of that edict were. Let us hope that Jalahmajra can convince the rest of Punjab that lionesses are more important than lions and the message spreads to other parts of India too. According to Lancet India has lost more than 10 million unborn female children. No invader has killed so many women. But we have done it. It is time we stopped.

A newsreport from DNA.

The 'curse' of having a girl: By Navdip Dhariwal BBC News, Delhi

Wild flowers in the forests near Mhow (MP), India

2006-07-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

I love this photograph of wild flowers I clicked in the forests near Mhow on a full moon night of April 1998. I and two teenagers had accompanied a group of trekkers from the Indore branch of the Youth Hostels Association of India on a night trek to a fort named Kushalgarh. We joined the main group, which had left Indore on a Khandwa bound train, at Mhow. From Mhow the train went past a station named Patalpani which is famous for a huge waterfall. We got down at a station named Kalakund. The trek started around midnight and we walked through the forest till the fort and then walked to another railway station named Patalpani. We reached Patalpani just before dawn. It was a beautiful experience watching the sunrise. A train ride on a train from Khandwa brought us back to Mhow. The main group continued towards Indore. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. It is almost as if I were dreaming. I have been to this area on three occassions - 1994, 1997 and 1998 - and it has always been on a night trek. The group I usually go with chooses a full moon night in April. They make this their last local trek before the onset of the harsh summer. Enthusiasts from this group then head towards Himachal Pradesh for the summer trekking progam.

I should take a trip there during the daytime. It is green and beautiful now - thanks to the rains.

We see many trees all our lives but very often we do not know their names. I do not know what the name of this tree is. Maybe I can ask a forest official or a villager or tribal who lives in this area. Or a tree lover like Pradip Krishen whose well researched book on the trees of Delhi has become a bestseller.

Why do all these gadgets need batteries?

2006-07-05T00:16:00.000-07:00

I remember entering a shop and asking for an alarm clock which did not need batteries. "You won't get any," said the shopkeeper with a grin. I remembered the alarm clocks we had at home when I was a kid. Winding it up was a daily task. We used to wind up our wrist watches at 9p.m. when Lotika Ratnam or Surajit Sen read out the english news on All India Radio. I remember an old wall clock gifted to us by our maternal grandfather. It has also been converted to a battery operated one. It is horrifying that we end up polluting the environment just because we need to know the time. Something gadgets like mobile phones and various news channels keep telling us on a 24x7 basis.

I remember seeing an interview of the British inventor Trevor Bayliss on BBC World Television. I was unlucky as I could not get to see the full interview. But the little I saw left me full of fascination for this man who knew the power of thinking out of the box. One of his inventions is the Wind up Radio. In 1993 Trevor saw a program on TV through which he came to know that the radio was one of the most effective tools in the anti-AIDS campaign in Africa. AIDS was spreading like wildfire throughout Africa and leaflets and newspapers and television campaigns were virutally useless. The radio was extremely effective but there was one drawback - the power supply to the radio. One needed batteries or electricity to use a radio. And these were in short supply in the countryside. If only one could manufactuer radio sets which did not rely on these conventional power suppliers. This set Trevor thinking and he conducted an experiment with a hand brace, an electric motor and a radio. The brace could turn the motor and supply enough electricity for the radio to run. When he added a clockwork mechanism with a spring he saw that the radio could play as the spring unwound.His first prototype needed two minutes to be wound up and ran for fourteen minutes. The Windup Radio had been invented. A corporate accountant named Christopher Staines and South African entrepreneur Rory Stear ecognized the potential of the product and they set up BayGen Power Industries in Cape Town. Funding was provided by the Liberty Group. Disabled people are being used to assemble the radio sets. All in all a win-win situation. The disabled who work with Baygen earn their salaries and the rural folk of South Africa get to use a radio with zero running costs. The Freeplay radio was awarded the BBC Design Award for Best Product and Best Design in 1996. Trevor Baylis was at the centre of a lot of media attention due to this innovative invention.

While listening to Trevor being interviewed on television I was impressed by one of his statements. He said that he never buys or wears suits. According to him most of his friends have around 50 suits and each suit costs approximately 500 pounds. "This is a lot of money," said Trevor, "and could be put to better use." A quick calculation tells me that 50 suits at 500 pounds each comes to 25,000 pound sterling, this would be something like seventeen and a half lakh rupees. A huge amount indeed. Perhaps I am being a bit simplistic here but if the affluent all over the world could donate the cost of a suit to a worthy charity once a year a lot of money can be generated.

Ultimately it is all about thinking simply and effectively. One can make a positive difference to the quality of life through seemingly small tasks.
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A few links:
Wind up Radio
From Inventors and Inventions
Different models of the Freeplay Windup Radio available for sale in the UK
From the BBC: Trevor picks his favourite invention
Why IT really winds me up by Trevor Bayliss

The Webby Awards 2006

2006-06-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

From the website of the Webby Awards: The leading international award honoring excellence in Web design, creativity, usability and functionality.

The nominees and winners this year are given in this list. An interesting collection. Worth spending some time on.

Among the winners this year are

Category: Art
Webby Award Winner: MoMA Contemporary Voices

People's Voice Winner: Off the map

Category: Best Copy/Writing
Webby Award Winner: New Yorker

People's Voice Winner: Nerve

Enjoying Shab-e-Malwa

2006-06-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

A friend came over at 9:30 pm yesterday. Good he did so. We took some garden chairs and sat outside. We chatted about everything under the sun. Barring a few sms messages we were not disturbed. He left after 11 pm. "It is so pleasant that I do not feel like going," he said just before he left. I do not blame him. The Malwa plateau of Madhya Pradesh of which Indore is a part is famous for its cool evenings and nights. The Mughals called it Shab-e-Malwa (The nights of Malwa). Subah-e-Banaras, Shaam-e-Awadh, Shab-e-Malwa - The mornings of Benares, the evenings of Awadh and the nights of Malwa. Indian films have also celebrated Benares, Awadh and Malwa. I associate Benares with Satyajit Ray's Aparajito and Mani Kaul's Siddheshwari, Awadh with Ray's Shatranj Ke Khilari and the films of Muzzafar Ali especially Umrao Jaan. For Malwa I would recommend Kumar Shahani's Khayal Gatha parts of which had been shot in the deserted fort city of Mandu in Dhar district.

Even when the daytime temperatures in Malwa touch 45 celsius the evenings and nights would be in the 20 to 22 celsius range. Guests who come from Kerala, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi comment on these cool evenings and remember them with great joy when they reminisce about their trips. Perhaps that is why the British chose Mhow in Indore district as a cantonment and it has become the town which has three of the Indian Army's most prestigious training institutions. The British did choose some excellent places like Bangalore, Pune, Pachchmarhi and Mhow to set up their cantonments and training centres. Army Officers who come here on courses from distant corners of India always comment on the pleasant and mild weather of Malwa plateau. Perhaps that is why my father chose to settle here in 1980 after having spent 37 years in the Indian Army. He had joined in 1942 when the British were still ruling India and World War II was raging.

He had first come here in 1948 for a short course. He came again in 1968 for a four year stint. I was seven then. We had come from Delhi. I didn't know about Shab-e-Malwa then. But I still remember the coolness of the evenings. The sweetness of the mangoes. The smell of raat ki rani. The taste of jamun. Sitting on garden chairs on the lawns of bungalows built during the Raj. Going for walks at night on the Mall. Picnics at Beircha Lake on moonlit nights. The kulfi seller on his Lambretta scooter. He still goes around on one. Is it the same one? Must ask him. Will tell all of you out there what his answer is.

The Science Writer Carl Zimmer 's blog

2006-06-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

"Carl Zimmer is the author of several popular science books and writes frequently for the New York Times, as well as for magazines including The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Science, Newsweek, Popular Science, and Discover, where he is a contributing editor. Carl's books include Soul Made Flesh,, Parasite Rex and Evolution: The Triumph of An Idea. His latest book is Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins."
Click here to get to his blog.
Thanks to scitechdaily for informing me about this blog.

The policeman and the boy

2006-06-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

I was taking a bus trip from the small, beautiful, unpolluted town where I live to the city 25 kms away. I had decided to take a bus instead of hiring one of the cars I hire regularly. The car drivers are friends and each of them has his own way of keeping me up to date with what is happening. But I wanted to get a feel of the environment I saw during my teens and my twenties. The best way to do that is to take a bus. A train ride is a shade better as far as travelling comfort is concerned but the trains are so few and far in between that I just do not consider them. I am attending a book release function. I had received an invitation in the morning. An HR executive of the sponsor of the event had rung up and invited me.

The bus left its starting point at 3 pm. It was almost full. At every stop more people got in. Some get off at stops enroute. By the time we reach the outskirts of the city the bus has a few empty seats. A grey-haired policeman and a street urchin who looked barely eight or nine years old came and sat on the seat next to mine. It was obvious that the cop was escorting the young boy. Most probably to a remand home. I heard the boy say something. I couldn't quiet catch his words. The cop told him in Hindi that he was taking him to a place where he would get everything he needed. His tone was somewhat mocking. The boy looked scared. The policeman did not look like a cruel man. He looked tired and jaded. He asked the boy whether he had any parents or guardians. The boy said he had nobody.

This looked very Dickensian. I started talking to the cop. He told me that they had found this boy wandering aimlessly. That he belonged to a town approximately 70 kms away. He was taking the boy to a remand home. The boy heard the cop and he burst into tears. I felt bad. I wanted to him to stop crying. I told him to stop crying. I felt he would be much safer in a remand home than in the streets even though I knew that remand homes are not safe for children. Horrific scenes from films like Salaam Bombay and Chandni Bar flooded my mind. I prayed that he does not get physically or mentally abused and that he found safety. I wanted to give him some money. But that may have made it dangerous for him in the remand home. I realised I was trying to address my need to feel good as I was unable to see the trauma that this young orphan was undergoing. I told him that he would be safer in the remand home than on the street. But as I told him this I prayed yet again that I was right. At that moment I wished that I had the courage, strength and resources to do something for this child. But all I had were words. Plenty of them. The cop also chipped in. "Yes," he said, not unkindly, "you will also meet other children your age. You won't be alone." I try to project that as a straw for a drowning man. I can see the youngster making an effort to clutch it. But he was in a state of shock. And he must have known that the other children there would be prisoners too.

My stop arrived within ten minutes. I decided not to give any cash to the boy. I wished I had some fruits or biscuits with me. But why was I thinking all this? Had one boy's plight forced me to face the reality which I had always avoided? Looked like it. I got down. I took a final look at the boy. He was staring into thin air. Like a boxer who had been floored by a flurry of punches. I prayed that he would get up and fight. I prayed for his safety. I walked past the bus and I forgot him. I had to get to the venue. I was back in my cocoon.

I took an autorickshaw to the venue. The function was an interesting one. A small gathering. Including the writer's family members. Speeches. Applause. The author talked about his childhood in a small town. Powerpoint presentation. Poetry recital by a young lady. Questions and answers. Snacks and tea afterwards. He has written about the magic of films before the onset of the television era. It seems to be an interesting book. I can imagine the boy I saw sitting in a dark cinema hall, watching a film with rapt attention.

While returning home I bought the vcds of a couple of films to view at leisure. I also decided to have a beer. I entered a beer bar. One of those places which is visited by men only. My first visit to such a den. There were a couple of bouncers to maintain law and order. What a difference from my last visit when I and a lady friend had gone to a good hotel and enjoyed a drink or two while enjoying the pop numbers being sung by a crooner. Even though I had a light beer it made me tipsy. I think it must have been due to the physical fatigue. I took another bus ride to come back to my town. A scooter ride brought me home. But the boy's crying face kept coming back to my mind. Was it due to the alcohol that I couldn't suppress the memory? While the effect of the beer lingered I typed out this blog to share my thoughts with all those who read this . I was not happy with what I wrote. But I knew that I could polish it up later.

Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide by Pradip Krishen

2006-05-27T23:48:00.000-07:00

"Sar Santey Rookh Rahe To Bhi Sasto Jaan"
(If a tree is saved even at the cost of one's head, it's worth it) - Bishnoi saying.
In 1730 in a small village named Khejadli in the Jodhpur district of Rajasthan three hundred and sixty three women, children and men of the Bishnoi tribe laid down their lives saving a grove of khejadli (Prosopis cineraria) trees from axe-wielding men sent by the Maharaja. They had orders to cut down these trees but the villagers hugged these trees and took the axe blows upon their own bodies.

In Nature there are neither rewards nor punishments, there are consequences - Robert Green Ingersoll

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the Universe, the less taste we will have for destruction - Rachel Carson.

Poems are written by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree. - Alfred Joyce Kilmer
American poet who was killed in World War I

Pradip Krishen, former film director (Massey Sahib, In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones, Electric Moon) has spent four years tree-sleuthing (as Sandeep Unnithan describes it in the Authorspeak column of India Today, May 29) and collecting material for Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide (Dorling Kindersley). Pradip's book is supposed to be a must-have for all nature lovers. I haven't yet seen the book but the reviews I have read have convinced me that I should pick up a copy. Click here for more info on the book.

The article by Sandeep Unnithan also tells us of two projects that Pradip is currently working on. One is the rejevunation of 70 hectares of wilderness in Jodhpur into an ecological park and the other is the creation of a botanical garden in the Garhwal foothills. Here's wishing him all the best in his efforts to green the planet.
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Makes no difference to me ji.....

2006-05-22T00:57:00.000-07:00

Sharmaji and Pathakji are discussing the rise in fuel prices.
Sharmaji: Fuel prices have risen again Pathakji. I remember it used to be Rs 1.75 a litre in the early seventies before it got doubled. After that it has just kept on increasing.
Pathakji: Haan Sharmaji I remember. In fact in 1979 my elder brother, who was then alive, had told me that petrol is about to become Rs 5 per litre.
Sharmaji: Ek baat to hai Pathakji. It makes no difference to me.
Pathakji: Can you please explain that to me Sharmaji.
Sharmaji: See pehle bhi I used to take hundred rupees ka petrol in my Bajaj Super and now also I take hundred rupees ka petrol.
Pathakji: Arrey waah Sharmaji. What a good idea. I will tell my son also. He has got Hero Honda

A Bowstring Winter by Dhruba Hazarika - A new novel set in Shillong

2006-05-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

Memories of Shillong: Hills, clouds, rain, mist, cold, plums, pineapples, oranges, good music, guitars, good clothes, faded jeans, pretty girls, the Khasis, Garos, Jaintias, Assamese, Bengalis, Army, Assam Rifles, Geological Survey of India, Laitumukhrah, Nongrim Hills, Nongthymmai, Spread Eagle Falls, Laitkor peak, Happy Valley, Burra Bazar, Police Bazar, State Central Library, Rock concerts in Laban, Dhankheti, St. Edmund's College, Brother Pinto and his Alsatian.....

For Shillong lovers and Shillong watchers (and for book lovers too). A new novel set in Shillong. Just came to know about it from the Penguin India website.

A Bowstring Winter by Dhruba Hazarika.
Dhruba (b. 1956, Shillong) is a product of St. Edmund's College Shillong and of Guwahati University. He has won the Katha award for creative writing in English in 1996.

Looking forward to getting a copy of this book. Will send a recommendation to my online bookshop.

Ekta unites Afghanistan.....

2006-05-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

I remember Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai being interviewed on an Indian TV Channel. He was asked about his student days in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, where he studied during the late seventies. He talked of the Shimla of the seventies. Of walking on the Mall, of tea shops where students used to hang out, of songs from Mausam (starring Sharmila Tagore) playing in the background. It could be Rabindranath Tagore's story Kabuliwallah or umpteen Bollywood films where the large hearted Pathan swears undying love for his Indian friend we are used to a gentle pre-taliban image of Afghanistan. After the US led invasion of Afghanistan one read many newsreports of posters of Bollywood stars being sold on the streets of Kabul and of pirated VCDs and DVDs doing brisk business. Many Indians working for the reconstruction of Afghanistan have been killed by the Taliban. The Taliban represent those who are influenced by the gospel of hatred which the U.S. preached and encouraged fanatics from Saudi Arabia to preach when they wanted the Russians out. The large majority of Afghans would prefer to be in constant touch with India and things Indian.

If there is one thing which unites India and countries from Philippines to Nigeria it is Bollywood. I remember a Nigerian army officer doing a course in India telling me that one of the first things that he and his colleagues did on arriving in India was to go to public parks and check out whether there were any young couples singing songs and dancing around trees. (The way Shashi Kapoor and Hema Malini did ? Remember Jaane man tum kamaal karti ho....?).

I remember reading newsreports of how the urban elite of Lahore and Karachi is totally hooked on Indian TV serials and that during the Kargil crisis drawing rooms in these cities were full of people crying at the sight of the coffins of Indian soldiers being received at New Delhi airport. In the seventies and eighties Indian muslim friends and classmates would tell me that if they had relatives from Pakistan visiting then one of their main duties was to take these visitors to cinema halls so that they could catch up with the latest Amitabh or Mithun starrer.

Thanks to Amit Varma's blog I came to know of this newsreport in the NY Times which tells us about how Ekta Kapoor's soap operas have forced Afghans to stay indoors when these serials are being telecast. The next time your mom, sis, wife, girlfriend or all of the above sit(s) glued in front of the TV watching Tulsi don't get angry with them/her. Maybe they know something that you don't.

The Aventis General Prize for Science Books

2006-05-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

The Aventis General Prize for Science Books is in its 18th year. When it comes to popularising science books written for a general audience the Aventis Prize is doing a fantastic job. Pas winners include Phillip Ball, Bill Bryson, Stephen Hawking and Chris McManus.

The shortlist for 2006 included:

1. Power, Sex, Suicide - Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life, by Nick Lane (Oxford Universiy Press)

2. Empire of the Stars - Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, by Arthur I Miller (Little Brown) This book is about the public humiliation of young Subramanyan Chandrashekhar by Sir Arthur Eddington in 1930.

3. Electric Universe - How Electricity Switched on the Modern World, by David Bodanis (Little Brown)

4. Collapse - How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive by Jared Diamond (Penguin Allen Lane)

5. Parallel Worlds - The Science of Alternative Universes and out Future in the Cosmos, by Michio Kaku (Penguin)

6 The Truth About Hormones - What's Going on when We're Tetchy, Spotty, Fearful, Tearful or Just Plain Awful by Vivienne Parry (Atlantic Books)

The winner this year is Electric Universe by David Bodanis.

Fascinating stuff for youngsters and for all of us who are young in mind.

Buddha Purnima, Buddhism, India, China and Japan

2006-05-16T01:04:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we saw the full moon at night. It was Buddha Purnima. I remembered the CD of Buddhist music I had purchased last year. I remembered the Vipassana meditation course I did in Igatpuri in 1996. Ten days of silence. No reading, no writing, no speaking, no newspapers, magazines or television. When I entered the commune Atal Bihari Vajpayee had just resigned as PM of India. When I came out Deve Gowda was the PM. I remember how I was taught to observe my feelings. How I was told of impermanence and the inevitability of change. It was my first true exposure to Buddhism. As a young schoolkid I had learnt about the Buddha when I was in Class IV or V. It was only after going through ten days of Vipassana that I realised how shallow my knowledge of Buddhism had been.

Looking at the map we see that from Myanmar to Japan a large belt of nations which try to follow the tenets of Gautama Buddha and the eight fold path he had discovered.

A year ago I happened to read some words of Hu Shih, former Chinese Ambassador to the U.S.A. A google search could locate for me the exact words. Here they are:
"Never before had China seen a religion so rich in imagery, so beautiful and captivating in ritualism and so bold in cosmological and metaphysical speculations. Like a poor beggar suddenly halting before a magnificient storehouse of precious stones of dazzling brilliancy and splendour, China was overwhelmed, baffled and overjoyed. She begged and borrowed freely from this munificent giver. The first borrowings were chiefly from the religious life of India, in which China's indebtedness to India can never be fully told."

He had also said: "India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border."

Communist China did try to clear her debt to India when she attacked us in 1962 and took over large tracts of land thanks to Jawaharlal Nehru's inability to see the writing on the wall. This, after China had destroyed many monasteries and killed thousands of Tibetans and forced the Dalai Lama to seek refuge in India. It was heart warming to read the above words. Even today the Chinese continue to puzzle the world as they try to distance themselves from the cruelties that they perpetrated in Tibet and Tiananmen square. Something that they conveniently forget when they remember the assault that another Buddhist nation, Japan, had launched on them and the horrible unimaginable cruelties that Japanese troops perpetrated. Truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction.
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The May issue of Dailyzen , the internet magazine I subscribe to.

Love knows no borders....

2006-05-16T00:28:00.000-07:00

Love, it is said, transcends all national boundaries. Many Bollywood films have been made on this theme using Indo-Pak rivalry as a background. Many real life cases of couples marrying across the border have also occured. I am not talking of arranged marriages, which are also welcome, as these keep happening. I remember a case when a former Indian Naval Chief's daughter married a Pakistani General's son. Both of them were studying in a U.S. University. This case which I read in The Times of India a few hours ago tells us why truth is stranger than fiction. Asha Patel, 24, of Mumbai and Khalid Mumtaz of Lahore fell in love with each other while chatting on the internet. Similarly Asha Sharma, 22, of Nainital fell in love with Mumtaz's brother. (The word Asha means hope, maybe that has something to do with both these cases. Some newsreports say that the Nainital girl is Ayesha and not Asha) Both couples exchanged vows on the net. They were desperate to meet their spouses. They met at the Wagah border. The BSF and Pakistani Rangers allowed them to meet for a few minutes only. Their requests for visas had been turned down earlier. Love ke liye kuchch bhi karega. So both couples met again at Chakan da Bagh - the last Indian point on the LoC in Poonch - on Rawlakote road. But they had not realised that this post was meant only to facilitate border crossings for residents of J&K who wanted to meet their relatives in the earthquake struck areas. So they were arrested. The Indian police did a thorough check before letting them go. Movie ideas JP Datta?
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Read the original report here.
India stops LoC ‘Love infiltration’ : Report in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn.

No formula for happiness....

2006-05-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

There ain't no formula for happiness. But try telling that to Ed Deiner. This professor of psychology at the University of Illinois has been studying what makes people happy and how happiness can be measured. Trunk loads of information here in this article from the BBC. Enough to make any researcher happy. As far as I am concerned I quiet like these words of Aldous Huxley : "Happiness is like coke - something you get as a by-product in the process of making something else." (from his novel Point Counter-Point)

For Nature lovers - The Adopt a Rare Bird program by BNHS

2006-05-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

The BNHS (Bombay Natural History Society) has launched an Adopt a Rare Bird program. Nature lovers can choose from twelve species:

(1) Baikal Teal

(2) Eastern Imperial Eagle

(3) Forest Owlet

(4) Nilgiri Flycatcher

(5) Nilgiri Laughing Thrush

(6) Nilgiri Pipit

(7) Kashmir Flycatcher

(8) Green Peafowl

(9) Siberian Crane

(10) Malabar Pied Hornbill

(11) Lesser Florican

(12) Great Indian Bustard

For Rs. 300 (or U.S.$10, or Euro 7.5 or Sterling Pound 5, depending on where you are) you can choose a species and have a framed picture sent to you as a memento.

For more details click here.

New Hindustani Classical CDs of Pandit Amarnath

2006-05-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

An email from Underscore Records informs me that a two volume audio CD pack of ragas sung by Pandit Amarnath of the Indore gharana has been released. These are recordings from his 1986 concert tour of the U.S.A.
The description on Amarnath's CD says "This selection showcases three recordings from a concert tour of the United States taken by Pandit Amarnath of the Indore gharana in the year 1986. The recording showcase Pandit Amarnath\'s vocal prowess as well his originality as a composer. "
Volume 1 contains three tracks : (1) Sarparda Bilawal (21.46) (2)Kalingada (13.00) (3)Shudh Sarang (23.54)
Volume 2 contains three tracks too : (1) Darbari (43.00) (2)Madhukauns (14.10) (3) Jogia (11.46)
Am sure these CDs will be quiet a listening experience.
The neat thing about Underscore Records is that one can order music and pay for it online. One of my prized possessions is the audio CD of the music of Kesarbai Kerkar which I had bought some months ago.
For those of you music lovers out there who do not know it singer Shubha Mudgal is associated with Underscore Records.

Adieu John Kenneth Galbraith

2006-04-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

The famous economist and liberal John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15 1908 - April 29 2006) is no more. He was U.S. Ambassador to India from 1961 to 1963. He was also a gifted writer. It is impossible that one reads him and does not smile as he had a fantastic sense of humour. According to his obituary in CBC Kennedy enjoyed reading his writing so much that he insisted on seeing all cables he sent from India including those which had been sent to other officials. He was famous for his pithy quotes and sense of humour, take his attempt to describe trickle down economics: "If you feed enough oats to the horse, some will pass through to feed the sparrows".
Former Professor at Harvard and Princeton he is also well known for the many books he wrote. He is one of the few Americans who continued to be extremely popular in India. Maybe it was because of his Canadian birth. Call it the Commonwealth effect!! One of the articles he had co-authored along with Mohinder Singh Randhawa was on Indian Paintings.
For more detailed information on one of towering figures of the twentieth century do take a look at the Wikipedia entry on him.
I end my salaam with a few quotes from one of America's best known liberals:
"Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite."
"The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable."
"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

Shankar Laxman of Mhow - Indian hockey's forgotten hero is no more

2006-04-30T03:19:00.000-07:00

'Laxman was among the game's greatest. He was an epitome of courage and a role-model for others of his ilk. Unfazed by any situation, he had the ability to defuse any crisis. His team-mates were at a loss to know how his pads grew broader and broader as the contest wore on.' - Charles Cornelius , former Indian hockey player.

"No chest guards and pads in those days, just the pads and the stick"- Harbinder Singh, former Indian hockey player, quoted in an article by K Arumugam, Hindustan Times, May 2, 2006.

"...for Laxman, the ball was the size of a football. It was his afternoon of glory and fame" - Hockey Circle, Australian Hockey Magazine, referring to Laxman's performance against Pakistan in the hockey final of the 1964 Olympics, as quoted by K Arumugam in an article in the Hindustan Times, May 2, 2006.

Shankar Laxman - Indian hockey hero, goalkeeper and captain of the Indian hockey team in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics is no more. He died yesterday Saturday, 29 April 2006, of a heart attack at Mhow, the Cantonment town in Indore district of Madhya Pradesh. He had not been keeping well for quiet some time. A month or so ago people were shocked to learn that he was suffering from gangrene in one leg. He had got his toenails removed surgically. Doctors suggested amputation. He and his family members refused. They opted for alternative therapy. He was going to Ramesh Parmar, former cricketer and a healer who uses traditional herbal remedies. When I asked somebody who knew Laxman I was told that Dada, as he was known locally, was improving. Member of Parliament Jyotiraditya Scindia had promised him all help when he had come to Indore to attend the One Day International cricket Match against England on April 15. It was a shock to learn that he was no more. It was strange to learn about the death of someone who lived not far away by seeing a flash on TV from a New Delhi based news channel's studio a few hundred miles away.

I had been hearing of Shankar Laxman since my childhood and was always in awe of him. A fortnight ago I had visited his house in the market place of Mhow and was told that he had gone to get herbal medicine applied on his leg. I was asked to come later. I could never go. Perhaps I was destined not to meet him.

Shankar Laxman was born on July 7, 1933 in Mhow. He was a member of the Olympic gold medal winning hockey team in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. The other medals he won include the 1958 Asian Games gold medal (Tokyo), 1960 Olympics silver medal (Rome), 1964 Olympics gold medal (Tokyo) and the 1966 Asian Game Gold medal (Bangkok). He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 1965 and the Padmashri in 1967. He was dropped from the Indian hockey team to the Mexico Olympics of 1968 and the decline of Indian hockey also began with that tournament. His opponents called him the Rock of Gibraltar. According to the manager of the silver medal winning Pakistani team of the '64 Tokyo Olympics Shankar Laxman was the sole obstacle between the Pakistani team and the gold medal. According to an article titled There cannot be another like him by K Arumugam in the Hindustan Times dated May 2 ,2006 Laxman was the first goalkeeper captain in the world. Arumugam mentions his stunning record. In three Olympic finals against Pakistan he conceded just one goal and in three Asian Games finals he conceded two goals. That makes it six matches and three goals. I also remember Indore's Mir Ranjan Negi, whose father was a schoolteacher in Central School Mhow. Negi was the goalkeeper of the Indian hockey team in the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games and he had conceded something like seven goals in that match against Pakistan.

Laxman had joined the Indian Army and was in the Maratha Light Infantry's 5th Battalion. He had retired from the Army as an honorary captain. As luck would have it one of the battalions posted in Mhow now is the 26th battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry- his funeral was conducted with military honours by this battalion. It was an emotional experience not only for the townspeople of Mhow but also for the Army. The Maratha Light Infantry could say goodbye to one of its most illustrious sons.

He had begun his sports career as a footballer. According to an obituary report in the Indore edition of the Free Press he was the captain of the football team of a village named Kodaria which is part of Mhow. It was only after he joined the Army that he switched over to hockey. The rest, as they say, is history. He had founded a club named Heroes Club in Mhow to popularise hockey. Young Brothers, Mhow's best football club, also benefited from his expertise. His expert comments given during the 1982 Hockey World Cup in Bombay (Mumbai) were much appreciated.

Laxman lived a quiet retired life in Mhow. He even ran a small rationshop to make both ends meet. The IHF and officialdom may have ignored him but he was loved by the people of this small town who were very proud of him and loved him dearly. For them, he was and will always remain one of the few genuine heroes that their small town has produced.
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Also see: Used and Abused - The Indian Goalkeeper by Sundeep Misra in Indianhockey.com, Sept 27, 1999

Evan's Song a day - for music lovers

2006-04-24T23:53:00.000-07:00

Found this site while doing a google search for free downloads. Evan's Song A Day is an interesting site. Let me quote from the profile "Evan's Song A Day is exactly what it sounds like: Every weekday, Evan posts a downloadable song and writes about it. You'll find a healthy mix of new and classic tracks here. " Well, what are you waiting for? Click here and enjoy.

p.s. Evan's blogs also has links to some great blogs and readings on music.

Music lovers can also read the article
Top 5: The best of the music blogs by Julian McBrowne in about.com

Adieu Eachara Warrier brave hero and brave father

2006-04-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

It is difficult to recognise true heroes amongst us. Prof. Eachara Warrier was one such person. This professor of Hindi from Kerala shook the conscience of the nation in 1977 when he took the help of the judiciary to try to find out what happened to his son Rajan, an engineering student from REC Calicut, who was picked up by the Kerala police. These were the dark days of the Emergency (1975-77) and it is said that Rajan had antagonised a politician by mocking him during a college function. What happened next is straight out of a nightmare. Rajan vanished. There were stories and rumours of torture and execution and secret cremation. His disappearance was a weapon to terrorise Kerala. Prof. Warrier continued to search for his son. He was told that there was no hope. But he refused to give up. The judiciary came to his help. The Rajan Case, as it is still known today, is perhaps the first human rights case which shook India. A court ruling forced K.Karunakaran to resign the chief ministership of Kerala. Inspite of all his efforts Prof. Warrier never saw the guilty being punished. It was as if everybody knew what happened but each one of us was too scared to talk about it. He even wrote a book titled Memories of a Father. The director Shaji Karun paid his tribute to Warrier when he made his debut film Piravi. It is about a father's search for his son who has vanished. A very moving film in which the father's character was palyed by the late Premji. A role which won him the national award for best acting. I remember meeting one of Premji's sons, an Army Colonel, some years ago. The details he gave me about Premji's life made me realise that not only did Premji play the role of a hero on celluloid he was a hero in real life too as he had defied many social conventions. It was also interesting meeting Sunny Joseph, who was Shaji's cameraman for Piravi, at the FTII Pune in 1991 and listening to him talk about Shaji's work with reference to this film. I also happened to once meet the son of a cop whose colleagues were those accused of having arrested and possibly killed Rajan. It gave me goosebumps listening to the story as told by a policeman's son. There was always unflinching admiration for Professor Warrier and the way he continued to fight undaunted by the pressures on him. I never met him during my infrequent visits to Kerala though I wanted to. But I was in awe of him. Very few people have the strength to take on the state and its apparatus.The 86 year old Professor Warrier may be no more but the way he fought will continue to inspire future generations.

I also read about the sad death of Ajit Lall, the father of the slain model Jessica Lall. Jessica Lall's mother died soon after her murder. Now her sister Sabrina who is spearheading the campaign for justice is the sole person left behind in this unfortunate family. But she fights on bravely. And it is her fight which has inspired Geetanjali Mattoo's father to also continue to fight for his daughter who was allegedly raped and killed by the son of a senior police official. The accused was reluctantly set free by a court becuase th prosecution is accused of having botched up the case. We also have the case of the late Nitish Katara's mother fighting to seek justice for her son who was murdered by the son of a politician. This accused person is also an accused in the Jessica case. A sad connection between two extremely sad and tragic cases.

A brief description of Shaji's film Piravi in cinemaof malayalam.net
Rajeev Srinivasan's article in rediff paying tribute to Prof. Warrier

Royal Mess

2006-04-20T03:17:00.000-07:00

Son: Papa, papa, what is the meaning of the phrase 'royal mess'?

Father: When things are really screwed up we call it a royal mess son.

Son: As is happening in Nepal papa?

Father: I wish I knew son.

A room of her own.... Short Story

2006-04-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

Another attempt at writing fiction. A short story titled A room of her own. Posted in Sulekha.com as a blog entry. Do take a look folks. And as usual, bouquets and brickbats expected.

Here are a few more:

(1) Pissing on the lawn

(2) The hunter and the hunted

(3) A birthday present from Papa

(4) The last day of leave

(5) The debate

(6) No medals for me...

Are scruffy people more eco-friendly?

2006-04-14T22:36:00.000-07:00

During the sixties and seventies the scruffy look was the in-thing in the west. Prosperous young Indians also mimiced what they saw in movies and magazines. But these were limited to the westernized segment of society. Those who were affluent and could afford to cock a snook at convenional beliefs. Those studying in St. Stephens Delhi or St. Xavier's Mumbai. Those who knew what Woodstock was all about. Thanks to satellite television and the internet torn and faded jeans aren't the prerogative of kids from the affluent parts of society. Almost everyone wears them. But one can make out the torn and faded jeans which the rich wear from those which the middle class or the lower classes wear. The label says it all. Levis, Lees and Wranglers for the brat pack and desi brands for the Buntys and Bablis.

As the French saying goes, 'The more the world changes the more it remains the same'. Today we have milions of educated people who know what is harmful for the environment and what is not and who still end up committing acts of ecological sacrilege. Flying down to London for some shopping, using cars driven by fossil fuels for trivial tasks, maintaining lifestyles which depelte the earth of its scarce resources. I think it was John Lennon who had once said, "Never trust anyone who is above thirty, married and wears a suit." But nowadays even the eco-warriors wear suits shave daily, and use deos. In the cold countries of the west till a few decades ago most people would bathe once a week and would wear the same set of clothes for days on end. Even in India if I think of places like Kerala where people bathed twice a day and changed their clothes twice a day the lifestyle was still simple. One may have changed one's clothes twice daily, but it wasn't at all necessary that one ironed them unless one ws going for a formal occasion. If we were to take an Indian who wears an unironed tee shirt at home, we are looking at a person who is not consuming a few score units of electricity per year by this simple act. Multiply that by, say, four hundred million middle class Indians and the saving is awesome. A small act multiplied millions of times becomes a great act. Makes sense doesn't it?

Today television commercials motivate us to wear shirts which are whiter than white. The amount of detergents which must be consumed to attain this must be taking its toll on the environment. I guess nature would applaud if we avoided wearing white shirts. I remember seeing a British eco-warrior being interviewed on BBC television. He said that he has never got a suit stitched. According to him most of his friends have, on an average, something like 50 suits. Each suit costs an average of 500 pound sterlings. That comes to 25,000 pounds sterling. According to him this is a huge amount and if invested properly in a third world country it can make a serious difference in the quality of peoples' lives. What he said does make sense 25,000 pounds would come to around 1.75 million Indian rupees! And that is indeed a lot of money. And if used propery it can bring about a positive change in people's lives. This reminds me of a photograph I saw in the book titled The Best of Life, a rather scruffy looking Bob Dylan is quoted as asking, "Do you mean to say that all these people have come here to see me look clean?"

In a country like India the scruffy look may make others mistakenly think that one is not sufficiently well off. And that is the biggest insult for an Indian. But all over the world the affluent can convey the fact they are what they are even if they are not dressing as per expectations. In India we hae also seen the phenomenon of followers of different faiths and religions who live simply and do not leave much of a carbon footprint. Sackcloth and ashes is something we are used to seeing. But for many these acts of simplicity become rituals and they practice it without undersanding the significance. At the end of it all I would say that there aren't any answers which will satisfy everyone but one can take measures which contribute a drop here and a drop there.One can attain an inner composure which gives one the strength to cock a snook at conventions if one knows that by doing so one is making the earth greener and healthier. Occasionally wear that old shirt you always wanted to and avoid using the car every now and then and when you do these simple things take pride in the good you are doing. One must count the good that one is doing without getting a swollen head and without becoming arrogant.
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The article from BBC News which inspired this blog entry: Scruffy is the new green.
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Trying my hand at a short story.

2006-04-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

I decided to try my hand at writing a short story on a theme which is common to all national capitals. Won't say much about it as that may spoil the fun. Here is what I rattled off on my keyboard and then uploaded. FWIW. Brickbats expected.
p.s. The title is The Hunter and the hunted.

Many new species discovered near Mount Everest.

2006-04-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility - Rachel Carson author of Silent Spring.

Scientists from Conservation International and Disney's Animal Kingdom went on a two month scientific expedition in the Tibetan "Sacred Lands". These areas comprise the mountains of southwest China and Nepal. It also includes the "shadow" areas of Mount Everest. Their finds are extremely fascinating. These include: Giant hornets known locally as "Yak killers", a new species of grasshoppers in which the males ride piggy-back on the females, jumping "yeti" mice, Baby blue-faced blue golden monkeys, hamster like pikas that eat their own excreta for the nutrients in them, ten new species of ants, eight new insect species and a couple of new frog species. "Wow!" Is all I can say. Every now and then we keep hearing or reading depressing news from the world of nature, so every time we get good news we must celebrate. Let us hope that these newly discovered species stay safe from the most dangerous species on earth i.e. Homo Sapiens.
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Click here to read the report in LiveScience.com

Chandralekha - from CSW to teaching children

2006-04-09T18:53:00.000-07:00

I read the story of Chandralekha the CSW turned teacher cum motivator in the Making a Difference column of Outlook - the popular Indian weekly. She is indeed a brave woman. To have been a CSW for twenty years and then beome a teacher and enrich the lives of others and to ensure that no more daughters of her village beome CSWs. To help the women of her village to form self help groups. Hats off to this brave woman. Read the full story here.

A Shakespeare play in seven languages

2006-04-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

Tim Supple is directing the bard's A Midsummer Night's Dream in English, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi and Sinhalese. Check out this entry in my blog on sulekha.

The Indian Novel can survive without diasporic writers says Siddharth Shanghvi

2006-04-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

The Indian Novel can survive without diasporic writers says Siddharth Shanghvi :
Check out this entry on my blog in sulekha.

Senior U.S. Govt. Official arrested for cyber-seduction

2006-04-05T00:07:00.000-07:00

When Brian J Doyle,55, the Deputy Press Secretary of the U.S. Dept of Homeland Security used the Internet and befriended what he thought was a teenage girl he did not know that he was heading for trouble. He was arrested on tuesday for using a computer to seduce a child and for transmitting harmful material to a minor. The teenager was actually an undercover officer and Doyle incriminated himself over a period of time through his words and suggestions. What is impressive here is the manner in which law enforcement agencies in the U.S. keep checking chat rooms for perverts who are looking for easy prey. Read the full report here.

Zhao Jing, Chinese journalist, hates Microsoft.

2006-04-04T02:35:00.000-07:00

"It is so hard to be a free Chinese person. Damn Great Wall, damn Microsoft." - Zhao Jing. A message posed on his new blog. His blog on Microsoft's MSN Spaces service was shut down after Microsoft bowed to pressure from the Chinese authorities.
Article in the Sydney Morning Herald about how Chinese bloggers are giving a tough time to web censors there.
Article in the New York Times.

Harrison Ford hates the Internet

2006-04-04T02:30:00.000-07:00

"Any kind of rubbish goes on the internet and it can have a f**king life of its own." - Harrison Ford.
And here is the report.