ZEN IN WORK

All that Jazz

2008-12-31T21:14:00.002+05:30

Before the year ends, I wanted to scribble my two bits. It has been a eventful year no matter how cliched that sounds. Things are on track;as Watterson would say, 'let's go exploring'.

It was a memorable year, nevertheless. Piles of books. Books on food. Travel.Contemporary fiction. Cult fiction. Chiclit. And cinema.

I discovered cinema with a vengeance this year.

There's so much to talk but some other time.
Till then, good night and good luck.

Quote of the year:

Stay hungry, stay foolish
-Stewart Brand

There's something about Murakami

2007-10-08T23:58:00.000+05:30

There has been quite some time since I was actually moved by a writer and his writings. The last may be Mitch Albon who after a stellar debut as "Tuesdays with Morrie" turned out to be a tad too disappointing. I have been reading Murakami these days, and there is something about him that has got me hooked. Maybe it has something to do with the genre, fantasy or magic realism as purists may prefer calling, but this fantasy in my opinion is not about fairy tales. I first read Murakami a year and a half back when "kafka on the shore" was talk of the town. The book had had a strong impression on me even then but it was only when I read "Blind Willow Sleeping Woman" that it got me into the thinking mode. I picked up "After Dark" after this and finished it in one go. His heroes are not sterotyped, they are non-conformists, high on culture, and neither naive nor cynical.

Murakami is an exprience to be savoured

Poetic Justice..

2007-08-12T20:04:00.000+05:30

Smart men of deed
Woo the ladies.

Poets
Fall in love,
Hapless and spurned,
Inscribe rended hearts,
Into musty parchment scrolls.

The world marvels
At the poignant expression
And waits for
Sadder tales,
From saddened men.

Cross-posted not so long ago on Caferati (requires subscription).

http://www.ryze.com/posttopic.php?topicid=583196&confid=1199

Arbit about life and Arbit CP

2007-07-19T11:29:00.000+05:30

The yuppie's cultural hotbed, Bangalore , continues to stimulate. There is theatre at Ranga Shankara and then there are cafes, sprouting in every corner of the city each with its own USP.

Strategy is the most abused word among all MBAs.

Bheja Fry is the funniest among all films I saw recently. Annie Hall is the best film among the ones I had not been able to see all these years.

I hate money and hence I hate Financial Accounting. And I am not sure if this is a cause-effect relationship.

Management education is all about numbers. If you do not have numbers to support your data one gives two hoots about what you are saying.

I have become a fan of Jimmy Wales.

The Professor simulated the Pepsi Challenge of the 80s in the Strategy class.
Interestingly, only three out of ten were able to differentiate Pepsi from Coke.

I am neither happy nor said that Harry Potter has come to an end. Because there is Sussana Clarke.

Growing out of a crush is a *painful* experience.

CP[read Arbit CP] is the worst thing to have happened to the management education.

I have started writing in bullet points.

How to read books?

2007-05-12T14:45:00.000+05:30

If you are reading a Stayijit Ray in the day, read an Agatha Christie in the evening and throw a Tom Sharpe or Evelyn Waugh in between.

It's finally confirmed, Bilekhalli is the place to be.

About Kings & Queens:
I am too bored to write on this.
Marie Antoniette, 300, The Queen and The Last King of Scotland. They are all good films and I strongly recommend them.

Reccomendations:

Watch Everybody's Free(To Wear Sunscreen) and read the story about it here.

Where's Olive?

2007-04-04T14:42:00.000+05:30

Dwayne: I wish I could just sleep until I was eighteen and skip all this crap-high school and everything-just skip it.

Frank: You know Marcel Proust?

Dwayne: He's the guy you teach.

Frank: Yeah. French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he's also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he uh... he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, Those were the best years of his life, 'cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn't learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you're 18... Ah, think of the suffering you're gonna miss. I mean high school? High school-those are your prime suffering years. You don't get better suffering than that.

If you haven't seen this, you are really missing something.
Interestingly, this took five years in the making and faced many a financial problems.

And, another bookstore does it again.

Next: Of Kings & Queens

The Tale about the Road I took

2007-03-13T22:24:00.000+05:30

At times all I want is, to walk barefoot and stare at the stars coming out one by one, as they shine at the advent of the twilight. But then there is an incessant fear lurking inside: did I tread onto the road not taken. Maybe, the journey has just begun and I may have become too objective in some aspects of my life. My ephemeral life that appears mammoth under the microscope of eternal time. It may also be my continuous confabulation for the destination or the sudden sense of mundaneness that has creep ed into my life. I hear no words in the songs that I listen to and come across no punctuation marks in the stories that I read. And then there are other times when I feel I have just walked on and never stopped by to look around me. Did I take the wrong arm at the fork of the road? Have I walked so far that I could not imagine turning back now? And do I hoist my own petard by retreating steps? I am not chickening out . The die is cast and I have decided to move on.

"Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same"

All I want is poetic justice to be meted out.

'British' Oscars or 'American' Baftas?

2007-02-11T20:44:00.000+05:30

My bets:-

Helen Mirren
Forest Whitaker
Paul Greengrass[maybe]

Mid Day Bangalore over Filter Coffee

2007-02-11T19:18:00.000+05:30

Diary

Bangalore has just become a worse place to live in.
The uber-narrow roads are inundated with over-choked traffic. The autowallahas have become nastier. Going around the city is a pain, without your own conveyance.

Time Out

Blossoms became my favourite bookshop over this trip. I entered the shop and asked for a few books [to be read as obscure books], and the people looking after the shop left their job mid-way to help me find my books even though they had to struggle through the alleys and heaps around the shop and most notably, people they do not hear of in their daily lives. Excellent customer service! My sole request to Landmark, Crossword, et al is to at least hire sales people who are book-literate and familiar with the authors.

New members on the rack:

The Harper Collins Book of New Indian Fiction
A Tilak for Jung Bahadur-Jug Suraiya
Scoop-Evelyn Waugh
High Fidelity-Nick Hornby
Complete Prose-Woody Allen
Paperweight-Stephen Fry

Bangalore Bites

Lakeview, promises no lake views other than the views of honking traffic plying on MG Road, perhaps, has the best omelets in town. And even ice creams. Corner House was given a miss this time though Rum Tarts at Melting Moments were not and so was the Iced Tea at Java City.

What’s On

Someone please inform George Clooney to continue making movies like this. Good Night and Good Luck is a must-see for those into media and journalism. Even for those who are not into it. They have actually used McCarthy's archival footage in the stead of using an actor.

Leonardo DiCaprio has emerged as an amazing actor since his Titanic-days. This is a fact, which got corroborated after watching Blood Diamond. The only disappointment: the movie is tad too long.

Christopher Nolan is just amazing. He can make the most rivettingly-complex movies out of the simplest scripts: Memento, Batman Begins and now The Prestige.

And it's only in Bangalore, that you can get the LOTR trilogy, and not just that but two other movies all on a single DVD. Just for a paltry sum of forty bucks. I really wonder how they managed to squeeze in all of those LOTR epics into one DVD.

For the uninitiated, the entire post has been written in the format of columns from Mid Day. I found their ubiquitous ads even more uber-cool than the Bombay’s DNA ones though it lacks on masala when compared to Bombay Mid Day.

Bangalore on the Move.

Frank Miller is God

2007-02-01T12:51:00.000+05:30

But say hello to Sarnath Banerjee.

..and did you hear about Samit Basu?

O mai gawd

2007-01-31T16:03:00.000+05:30

I book an air e-ticket.

Now, I cannot cancel/postpone/advance it online or on phone or by e-mail. Not even at their counter at the airport which is open 24X7 and where i can saunter in, at any time as per my convenience.

They ask me to come to their back-office, in some remote corner of the city and their timings are 10-5 and my office timings are 8-5. :)

Did I tell you that they are closed for lunch from 1 to 2?

When will they learn the tricks of this business?

I did nothing but laze around over the long weekend just gone by and watched every movie running in the city. Parzania did not impress. Fightplan is avoidable. I slept for a good twenty-five minutes during Salaam-e-Ishq and when I woke up, I realised I haven't missed much. Happy Feet is okay-dokey.

Of late, I have become a couch potato[When wasnt, I were one? :)].
I am hooked on to The Office.Heroes has finally come to India.American Idol and The Apprentice started with their new seasons.

Recommendations:

Read The Last Bungalow:Writings on Allahabad

Read this even if you are not from Allahabad or have never been there.From Harivanshrai Bachchan to Rudyard Kipling, from Mark Twain to Ghalib. Hardly, does one come across such a constellations of literatis.

The timing could not have been better with the book release coinciding with the now running Kumbh.

Listen to John Mayer

Song in my Mind

2007-01-20T00:43:00.000+05:30

"To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven"

...and this too shall pass.

"...I swear it's not too late."

The Countdown

2006-12-24T00:13:00.000+05:30

And another year comes to an end..

They and they read this in 2006.
What did you read?

The Salon Book Award goes to..

And this is in store for you in 2007.

The best stories of 2006 on Slate are here.

The Google Zeitgeist for 2006 is here.
Interestingly, out of the top ten results, seven center around UC2.

Here's a short work of fiction from Booker Prize winner Ian McEwan.

And, Christmas today begins not with turkey but with a warm breakfast of bacon and eggs.
Merry Christmas!!

Reccommendations:

Watch Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot on TV.[Yes, they're back!]

Read High Fidelity

Listen to Charity Singles by U2-Green Day and The Killers

Browse oCulture.

Here's Sreesanth doing the "Dairy Milk" jig. Enjoy!

Basking..

2006-12-23T23:58:00.000+05:30

..in my new found glory.

I knew this would come one day.

I thank God, my parents, Tim-BernersLee, my English teachers at school, Pyra Labs , my friends and foes at Literary Association at school and Literary Council at college and, my neighbour's tiny-tots for not howling the night away and ensuring that I was not stirred away from accomplishing this. It is still hard to believe that it has come by so easily but let me take this opportunity to tell you that there has been a lot of hard work and perspiration behind this.

Last but not the least, I thank TIME.

More time to kill...

2006-12-09T00:19:00.000+05:30

The Macbook has been nominated as the gadget of the year.

Recommendations:-

Watch The Prestige and the new SONY ads here and here.

Listen to Mynta and Holiday for Strings.

Read poetry from Maya Angelou and Nissim Ezekiel.

A Few Good Movies

2006-11-09T18:13:00.000+05:30

The Departed

"I don't wanna be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me."

Whoa! What a movie. The movie leaves you simply breathless. I haven't seen a more revetting crime-thriller. A close-to-three-hours movie and you don't blink your eyes even once. The undercover cop, the mole in the police force, and the bloody gangster - all thrown at your face in one go. Expectedly, in keeping with the Sorcesese's penchant for making violent movies, this one is packed to the hilt with not only gory, bloody scenes, but so much profanity (even a Hindi gaali! which comfortably goes un-beeped by our censorwallahs..talk of India going global :) ) that after an hour or so of this one just stops getting shocked.DicapRio, Damon and Nicholson surpass all their previous performances.The movie has surprises in store at every turn, and certainly some at the end. If one has to sum it up – it's fast, it's slick (and sick!) and it's scary. It may not be a crime classic, but it's certainly one of the best crime movies I have ever seen.

Syriana

The four concurrent stories make it for a little recondite viewing. Neverthless, the common thread of corruption and power realted to the oil industry makes the subject all the more interesting. There is a jobless Pakistani who joins a fundamentalist goup in the end , an energy analyst , a CIA agant who is caught in his own web of deceipt and a lawyer who end up being his law firm's scapegoat . All starts and ends at an oil field and as you a leave the theatre the movie leaves you feeling blue . George Clooney is par excellence. Gaghan , the director, succeeds in driving home the message . Based on a book See No Evil.

A visit to home and a chance to catch up with movies i cannot squeeze onto my busy weekends. :)

The Motorcycle Diaries

I had read the book and eagerly wanted to watch the movie. For the uninitiated, the movie is in Spanish and has sub-titles in English which do fair enough justice to the movie. Different people had different view after reading Che's journey across the Latin continent. Some viewed it as the background that had set the breeding - ground for a bloodless revolution, the others about how he cared about the upliftmemt of the lepers and how their improvished state moved him enough to take up their cause. I viewed it , above all, as a story of two friends whose lives run parallel for a while and I was glad to see the way the movie ended; Alberto saying good-bye to Ernesto and how the epilogue in the end tell one Alberto gave up everything in the end to join his friend , Che in his revolution, later. The movie is a must-see.

Yun Hota to Kya Hota

Never before have I seen a Hindi movie where so many stories run tangentially with one another and get integrated in the end and the one common event that comes in at the climax simply leaves you gaping at your face! The cherished dream to make it to Uncle Sam's land, the land of aplenty falls flat at the face of many a characters in the end. A masterpiece from Naseeruddin Shah.

Upcoming movie reccos:

Stranger than Fiction
Eragon

Good reads lately:

The Search
Aruthur & George
Staying on

And I just became wiser, more mature( supposedly) and a year older.

October Redux

2006-11-07T16:50:00.000+05:30

Kiran creates hullabaloo in the Booker-Land and there are talks of Arundhati finally working on her next novel. Read reviews here, here and this one by Pankaj Mishra.

Pamuk wins the Big One and India, is the apple of world's eye at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Darwin gets e-booked [ I loved his picture with the lap on his lap] and Monica Ali talks of Malgudi Days.

Also, "Elementary, my dear Watson" is not a Doyle's coinage and writers talk on Writing here[requires subscription].

Wiki may get forked into Citizendium [I hate when people accuse Jimmy Wales of being anti-credentialist]..and I am hooked on to the Amazon Wire.

A likely story indeed!

2006-09-22T17:02:00.000+05:30

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."

And there are some more which are meant to be quoted. Though it is difficult to choose some from the entire pantheon there are some which have left an indelible mark.

I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!
~Alice in Wonderland

If I found a job, a project, and idea or a person I wanted -- I'd have to depend on the whole world. Everything has strings leading to everything else. We're all so tied together. We're all in a net, the net is waiting, and we're pushed into it by one single desire. You want a thing and it's precious to you. Do you know who is standing ready to tear it out of your hands? You can't know, it may be so involved and so far away, but someone is ready, and you're afraid of them all. And you cringe and you crawl and you beg and you accept them -- just so they'll let you keep it. And look at whom you come to accept.
~The Fountainhead

To say 'I love you' one must know first how to say the 'I'.
~The Fountainhead

a QUESTION of ANSWERS

2006-08-23T15:53:00.000+05:30

Mi5.Hampi.Ratan Tata.Google Hoaxes.
Times New Roman.Davy Jones Locker.
Crossword.Jim Corbett.Indra Nooyi.
Giesha.Bourbon.Kilt.Omkara. G8 Summit.
gutenburg Project.Su-doku.Tripura.
bankrupt.Snoopy.Tangram.Winnie the Pooh.
Fearless Nadia.SPIC MACAY.Vikram Chandra.
MiG.Hampi.Ramanujam.Sunita Narain.
Oscar for Best Screenplay.Zune.Podcast.
NFL.Mangoes.Indian Writes in English.
Mythical characters in Business Brands.
The Simpsons.Bobby.Biryani.Office of Profit.
Hotel California.Tarana.The Hutch dog.
Hindustani Classical.Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Raja Ravi Verma.Mahasweta Devi.
Treasure Island.Bobby.Mavalli Tiffin Rooms.

46 teams..and I am so relieved.

Sights, Sounds & Smells from Bangalore!!

2006-08-16T21:30:00.000+05:30

BANGALORE is always fun..

Because it rains RAIN here everyday.

..You hear JAZZ..

..in every cafe.

..You feel the aroma of filter coffee in every home.

..and you see books and more books in every nook and corner of Bangalore.

The latest additions to my library are:

Zen in the art of Writing
Shakespeare:Court, Crowd & Playhouse

Ragtime
Haroun & the Sea of Stories
Howards End
Beloved

The Trial
Madame Bovary
To the Lighthouse
Disgrace

Must - sees for the season:

Closer

Watch this before you watch Kabhi Alvida.. and curse KJo

Cleopatra

Elizabeth Taylor.Need I say more.

Walk the Line

I had watched Moulin Rouge and was blown away when I heard Nicole sing.Watch this and you will fall in love with Reese.

Capote

Just out on DVD.

Omkara

Justice done to Shakespeare.

(staircase up the Blossoms)

PS: And we finished fifth in the ASHA Quiz at ISB.
(To spot me, zoom in on the picture on the top left).

Object of Desire..

2006-07-19T10:18:00.000+05:30

..no more.

I am a proud owner of a sleek and sexy, all-white MacBoook.

Victory at Cannes!!

2006-07-02T20:15:00.000+05:30

The campaign for Midland Bookshop was based on a simple brief: to get book lovers to take time out and step into the shop and reiterate the thought that despite the advent of other entertaining media, reading books is still fun and insightful. The campaign consisted of three books, ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘The Communist Manifesto’ and ‘20,000 Leagues under the Sea’, planted at various urban locations such as restaurants and coffee shops. The three books contained stories of people who benefited after chancing upon inspiring books and how the books changed the course of their lives. For instance, one of the mini books contained the story of Peter Jackson, who, after reading ‘The Lord of the Rings’, was inspired to make a movie that went on to become one of the biggest hits in Hollywood history. In fact, these books were even distributed at the bookstore.
(via www.agencyfaqs.com)

View the complete campaign here.

Google Ka Baap

2006-06-26T19:14:00.000+05:30

Ever imagined a world without Google! Or, maybe even without Yahoo! or MSN. Well, there are people in this world who live without the net and in this library the internet hardly matters.Since 1968, a small band of researchers at the New York Public Library has been tackling questions reducing life’s infinite jumble to an answer, more or less.

Today, despite the Internet, the band of researchers of what is known as the telephone reference service are still at it. Every day, except Sundays and holidays, anyone, of any age, from anywhere can telephone and ask any question in langauges ranging from Yiddish to Armenian. The band has somewhat five minutes to answer any query meaning the caller gets an answer or somewhere to go for an answer — like a specialty library, trade group or Web site. Researchers cannot call back questioners.

Interestingly, the library staff does not answer crossword or contest questions or do children's homework.Still, the persistence of this service raises its own questions. Like why, in the age of search engines, would anyone bedevil a human being with such questions? And what human being would choose to be so bedeviled?

(via www.timesofindia.com)

Paul Duguid, an adjunct professor at the School of Information at the University of California at Berkeley, said there would always be a place for such human search engines. “There are dark areas on the Internet,” Duguid said, “vast databases that are not scanned by search engines like Google.”

Also watch the trailers of Wordplay and The Devil Wears Prada here.

Summer Read Guides

2006-06-20T13:39:00.000+05:30

This one is from the Business Standard.

And this one is from The Independent.

The "MUST" list

2006-06-17T17:35:00.000+05:30

Work again had put me off blogging for some time.I travelled East last month, the entire
IIT-Kgp thing turned out to be a big dampener but then had a lot of fun.Coffee in Communit Bengal..and the Joshi-man.I think of Joshi and I don't stop laughing till my stomach aches.I missed seeing Cal with the other guys as I had my journey back from Kgp itself.

MUST-haves for the season:

The OUTLOOK TRAVELLER's fifth anniversary issue.The issue stocks in some breath-taking photographs from Raghu Rai and the ilk and some invigorating articles from the likes of Pankaj Mishra, Dalrymple et al.There is also an interesting piece on the Select Book Shop of Bangalore which to say the least is paradise for an incorrigible bookworm like me. The origins of this malady are clouded in my brain by the ravages of time but the intensity with which it envelops me amazes me to no end. It was Groucho Marx who once wistfully remarked, “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read”.That pretty much sums up all there is to say about man’s two best friends.There I go again, so I must stop here.

Read this on the Select Book Shop from The Hindu.

Digit, the computer magazine is also celebrating it's fifth anninversary and has packed classics like Charlie Chaplin's The Kid and Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much with a host of the regular paraphernalia.A good deal to say the least.

Also, Google is discovering Shakespeare in a new light.Check this out.Here comes, Google Shakespeare. And that brings me to the just gone-by Caferati, which was great fun.

Also check out, the just concluded Hay-on-wye Festival.

MUST-sees for the season:

Also watched Amelie and Lock , Stock and two Smoking Barrels.Hera Pheri's sequel is a complete rip-off of the latter.

And I am really looking forward to Suhasini Manirathnam's Reading between the Lines on Tuesday.

I am hooked on to YouTube these days and l leave you with this funny video from the site.

"It's a magical world!!"

2006-05-17T17:58:00.000+05:30

I have just finished reading my nth Calvin & Hobbes strip. What makes Calvin & Hobbes(C&H) so brilliant is it's not just a comic strip that makes you smile..it lingers on your mind for hours even if you have read it in the morning alongside your su-doku over the coffee.

The strip drawn by Bill Watterson has been immensely successful ever since it started in 1985.Watterson often used the strip as a medium to comment on the growing decadence of the society.Calivn is said to be modelled on the thelogian john Calvin while Hobbes on Thomas Hobbes, a famous philosopher of the, then times. Read more about them here.Watterson stopped drawing C&H after 31st December, 1995.He even requested the Universal Press Syndicate to not to forward him any fan mail.It is said Bill was bothered by all the public attention he had gathered as a result of the success of C&H.

C&H went onto become so popular that by the time Watterson drew the last strip it was printed simultaneously in 240 newspapers across the world.Even Charles Schulz, has said "It is fun to look at and, that is what has made Bill's work such an admirable success."

So, "Let's go exploring!"

Happy Birthday Tagore!!

2006-05-09T10:48:00.000+05:30

I stand mesmerized,
wondering how you sing
your notes hold the world spellbound -
the light of your music
lights up my universe.

(song 22 of Bengali Gitanjali, song 3 in the English.)

Travel.No Lonely Planet.

2006-05-04T14:22:00.000+05:30

The best travel tales are...

The Penguin book of Indian Journeys

This brings together travel peices by the best. From Mark Tully's journey to Kumbh at Allahabad to R K Narayan's leisurely tour of Karnataka. The anthology brings together interesting travel tales from Vikram Seth to Khushwant singh and many others take you to places as familiar or remote as Jaipur and Ladakh.

Maximum City:Bombay Lost and found

Suketu does not call this city Mumbai.

This doesn't strictly fall into the category of travelogues but takes on Mumbai by interviewing dominant personalities of Mumbai. The book moves smoothly from the remote chawls of Mumbai to tours of Bollywood studios and stars an entir pantheon of politicans , bar-dancers, gangsters and even an engineer who gave up his lucrative career to become a poet.

Long Way Round:Chasing shadows across the world

If you are an ardent biker you will love this book though, even otherwise you will. Actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman travel the world around on their bikes.The book hilarious at times is a description of their take on the different cultures of the world they come across as they bike around. The book is full of pictures and maps.The journey has also been canned into a TV series and is aired on Discovery T&L on Sunday nights.

The Age of Kali:Indian Travels & Encounters

This is Dalrymple's take on the issues affecting the subcontinent.The Age of Kali symbolises dark times of lawless violence and political corruption.The book is dark as the theme suggests and includes his encounters with the LTTE in Sri Lanka and politicans in Bihar as he travles the sub-continent.

Road Fever

This one is for all adventure travel freaks.The exuberent and author of many-a-travel-books, Tim Cahill drives in a car from one end of the world to the other.The book concentrates more on the Americas and also details on the preaparation plans made by him for achieving this Guiness feat. On the hindsight, the book lacks in pictures and maps.

And then there are books by Bill Bryson and books that do not exactly fall into a category of travelogues but the city the story is set in plays an imprtant role and moves with the story like Khushwant Singh's Delhi and Pankaj Mishra's The Romantics.

And who can forget the magnificent Kerouac's On The Road and Guvera's Motorcycles Diaries.

Stand up for what is Right

2006-05-04T13:27:00.000+05:30

CRY has just donned a new role and has become Child Rights and You.

"We are not about temporary relief, or buying sympathy, sweets, blankets, however well intentioned. For 27 years of working with and for children, their families and communities across India, we’ve learnt that permanent change in the lives of children is only possible when we tackle the root causes that continue to keep our children uneducated, hungry and vulnerable. We believe that all children are equal, with equal rights guaranteed to them in the Constitution of India. We are about people coming together from all walks of life who believe in the rights of children.We are about Child Rights."

And going beyond the cliched ways of passing the information, they have launched a new TV commerical and a blog too.

Explore their website here and do take the CRY pledge.

How Kavya Got In, Got Caught and Got off the Shelf!!

2006-05-03T19:43:00.000+05:30

Chicklit Nightmare!! Kavya Vishwanatha's debut has fallen flat on her face. What is worse is the so called euphemesised "internalisation" has led to her books being withdrawn by Penguin across the shelfs here.

We all owe our creative influences to soemone or the other but this kind of hideous plagirism does not stand Kavya in a good position. what is interesting to note is, McCafferty's books which have been "internalised" and Kavya's novel both share the same author. And that also reminds of how once someone had told me how most of the books floating in the market are ghost-written.In fact, there are questions even on how Kavya actually broke into Harvard.

TOI was quick as usual to put the entire scoop on their front page andi remember very well it was TOI again which had borken the story of Kavya's jackpot on their front page again.

What is there to be watched out now is if Little Brown will ensue with its contract to publish Kavya's second book.

The Harvard Crimson was the first to break the news about two weeks back.

There are more interesting takes on this here by Gladwell and here by kitabkhana.

PS:HOMGKGWGL is at number eleven on the Amazon's bestsellers list and at the numero uno position in the Crossoword's bestsellers chart.

Hyderabad Walks

2006-04-20T19:52:00.000+05:30

After several planned-and-cancelled visits we finally made it to Bawarchi last week.
Having watched Bawarchi on The Foodie our expectations were, if to say the least, very high. However, Bawarchi was a big letdown: the food as well as the service. Going all the way to RTC crossroads form this part of the city is definitely not worth it.

Interestingly, even Rahul Gandhi gave it a miss.

After Bawarchi, we did a walk around and ended up at the Famous Ice Cream, Mojamjahi Market for it “famous” fresh-fruit ice cream which was indeed very cool “with all puns intended”.

We also walked to the crossroads and had a rushed-peek inside Karachi Bakery which was
choc-a-bloc.

If you are going to that part of the city, I recommend going on a Sunday morning and browsing books in the Sunday book bazaar doubling it up with lunch at the Taj Tristar.

Kitab Festival: An afterthought

2006-04-18T13:55:00.000+05:30

Not too long ago when Naipaul had won the Nobel, Times of India had an instant poll on how many had read a Naipaul before his getting the Nobel. Interestingly, more than the majority had responded in the negative. I know these instant polls give weird sporadic results but somehow they do dish out some bitter truth that reflects the whims and fancies of the Indian junta.

The just concluded Hindustan Times Kitab Festival is a case in the same effect. The festival brought together an entir jamboree of authors, writers, journalists, columnists to discuss the “effect of South Asian Diaspora on literature in the subcontinent” and claimed to be for everyone. And to add to the glamour quotient they had Goldie Hawn amidst those literatures’ and intelligentsia to give a talk on here recent spiritual memoir.

“It’s non-bureaucratic and open to public.”

The only good thing about Kitab was the fact that it was not a sarkari festival like the Neemrana fest where even the media was just allowed to press an ear to the keyhole. But still why it didn’t had a U R Ananthamurthy or a Mahasweta Devi who would have connected better with the audience is open to question. And this brings us to the more pertinent question of us having read any book in an Indian language other than English. Are these festivals aimed at
fiction-writers-turned-social-commentators “pandering to the West”?

An article in Business Standard eulogises Kitab as, “Kitab allowed authors and readers to meet outside an invisible cordon sanitaria. It made conversations happen.” Another blog confesses how the best conversations happened outside the discussions rooms.

The idea, it seems, has arrived but is yet to take the shape. Another article in Outlook talks about how a hajjar litfests happen in the UK every year yet the most popular of them is the ticket-ed Hay Festival held in a small town on the Welsh border. Just a cursory visit to the website of the festival speaks volumes of how perfectly is the festival marketed and how big a success it is every year even though it is a ticket-ed event. Selling tickets may not be the best idea to make the litfests popular but it has tasted success and has become a trend in the West. And then there are cities like Bangalore where I have observed there is a culture of paying for entertainment and tickets will sell well.

So, let the ink stain the papers and let conversations happen.

Chennai LANDMARK-ed

2006-04-18T09:48:00.000+05:30

Before I had set forth on my sojourn to Andamans, we did a brief stay-over at Chennai and a visit to Landmark was undoubtedly, inevitable. And believe me, I made a visit to all their three stores: Nungambukkam, Spencer Plaza and the latest one at the Victorian Chennai Citi Center (it’s so new that you may even smell fresh paint). And no wonder that I spent a fortune there so much so that it is difficult to describe the expression on my mother’s face when I told her of my book – shopping. I even had plans to visit The Fountainhead but cancelled it after this lat minute crisis.

And what did I buy:

American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville
Levy’s 30th book, he literally speed-writes and writes interestingly which it has to be when a Frenchman travails America coast to coast. And he did that because The Atlantic Monthly invited him to travel around the country during the election year of 2004 and to reflect on what he saw, in the manner of Alexis de Tocqueville's 1835 classic Democracy in America.

He travels in a typical Kerouac-style and like Tocqueville, whose original mission was to study the American prison system. He chats with Americans of all sorts and writes the postscripts on the contemporary America’s failures.

A theatergoer’s guide to SHAKESPEARE
Long been a desire to watch Shakespeare incarnate on stage, the book serves the purpose well. The sketches the author has drawn make the experience of a performance more enjoyable, and increases the appreciation for the breathtaking scale of Shakespeare's achievement.

A year in Provence
Bought this book to know more about the French culture. A pleasant surprise, the book is a tempting depiction of rural France and all its glorious food, festivals and residents. A Year in Provence is written in monthly chapters and tracks the days in the life of the English author, Peter Mayle, and his wife who have purchased a home in a small village in Provence, France.

The Penguin book of Indian Journeys
Travel memoirs are my latest fixation. This one has got everyone from Seth to Dalrymple and Pankaj Mishra to Arundhati Roy. It examines the petty and the large-hearted, the honest and the hypocritical, the smug, the defeated and the insecure . . .

For Reasons of State
This with a foreword from Roy, includes Chomsky’s articles on the war in Vietnam and the "wider war" in Laos and Cambodia, an extensive dissection of the Pentagon Papers, reflections on the role of force in international affairs. Highly recommended for those who want an education on Vietnam and Chomsky’s political work.

Stories from India
A compendium of Kipling’s very interesting tales set in India. Makes a very exhilarating read and transports you to the, then times.

American Notes
Having read almost all of Dickens, this was a must-buy especially when you realize that some things haven't changed about America. Nevertheless, true or not, is a great book by Dickens. Reading it you get a great sense of the author as well as how he observed the world. His humor really shines through, as does his familiarity.

Finnegan’s Wake
This came as a strong recommendation from here.This was an experimental work by James Joyce. The motive idea of the novel, inspired by the 18th-century Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico, is that history is cyclic; to demonstrate this the book begins with the end of a sentence left unfinished on the last page. Joyce’s strange polyglot idiom of puns is intended to convey not only the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious but also the interweaving of Irish language and mythology with the languages and mythologies of many other cultures.

The Penguin History of ECONOMICS
A core book. A very clear, reliable and readable history of economic thought from the ancient world to the present day. From Homer to Marx to John Stuart Mill, the author shows how to keep your Keynsians from your post-Keynsians and New Keynsians.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s
This one was long due especially after this.
Who can forget Audrey Hepburn’s immortal portrayal of Holly Golightly! I won't give away the two major twists in the novel, because I want you to read it, cheer for her, and cry with her, without knowing what will happen.

The LIST..

2005-12-27T17:29:00.000+05:30

My best of 2005..

1. The Kite Runner

An intriguing story of two friends set in the times of a political turmoil.Highly recommended by Oprah Book Club and hailed by critics all-over as one of the best books of the year.

2. FREAKONOMICS:The Rogue Economist explains the hidden side of everything

Don't get misled by the title..i know eco is considered to be one of the sexier sciences.The book actually has nothing to do with economics perse other than the writer's credits of being a noted economics Professor in an ivy-league school.The book had concocted of interesting observations from the author and his fellow writer , a NYT journo..though more true to the American context.

3. Two Lives

Seth's magnum-opus was finally out and he was here on a whirlwind tour of the country.However, this tale of his uncle and aunt set in the times of Second World War did not impress me as much as his other bible , A Suitable Boy.

4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Rowling was back and the cash registers were set ringing again..a darker episode of the Potter saga, turned out to be the most disappointing of all episodes, though perfect for a celluloid-adaption.

5.The World is Flat

This one's from another NYT journo..read it for an interesting and euphemistic re-telling of the Indian IT success story

6.Blink

This one was about "cognitive consciousness"..making snap decisions and thinking without the power of thinking as the book said it.

..and I also read

On the Road

Kerouac's memorable cross-country odyssey..a tribute to the Flower Power movement..voted by the Brit UNCUT as the most important work of the century

Arion and the Dolphin

Seth's libretto..I finally had the chance to lay my hands on it..written in a true Victorian style..an interesting read

The Fountainhead

I have read the book and I re-read it..I just cant think of compiling any favourites' list without including this book.

A dash of rainbow..

2005-08-26T18:15:00.000+05:30

A dash of rainbow and a mouthful of sky
Originally uploaded by zeninwork.

..and a mouthful of sky.

Salaam BOMBAY!!

2005-08-18T14:12:00.000+05:30

nariman point
Originally uploaded by akshat_kumar.

Back from Mumbai...there's been some rush-hour here with my work that had kept this post in the pipeline.And then it took me a while to figure out my account on flickr which has(thank God!) finally been merged with Y!...maybe flickr will replace Y!PHOTOS in times to come and that will be one real good treat.

Ever since I have come to Hyd ,the wanderer inside me has found a new lease of life..umpteen visits to Pune, official trip to Mysore , whirlwind tour of Nilgiris(Ooty , Conoor et al) ,
Coorg , halt at Bang and lately , Bombay.

Talking of Mumbai , I had heard "BOMBAY ROCKS!!"..but to tell you the truth the place fell quite short of my expectations..I had heard Bombay-aisa..Bombay-waisa ki I had expected God-knows-what..I had a hajaar impressions as the famous Infy slang goes of Mumbai..and then it all didn't measure much....But then anyways who went there for the city..

To say I had a ball of a time would be an understatement..Reached there in the morn in a APSRTC Volvo , the bus had too little leg room , when the guy in front of my seat stretched the back of his , my poor knees had a terrible time!!
And to add more , they played and re-played Arshad Warsi's "Kuch Meetha ho Jaaye" , whosoever has seen the movie can understand my plight . Amidst all this , I really wonder why there is such a mad-bad rush for APSRTC buses(I had to book my tickets in "real advance") even though they are more expensive than the other private ones and are definitely not so comfortable as the private ones . The one for which Shriyansh had booked my ticket for the way back was a real comfy one.

I reached Bandra and then began my tryst with the Mumbai locals.I had seen and heard a lot about Mumbai locals so much so that the one of my friends had told me that the ladies cut the vegetables while travelling so that they save on their chores once they reach their
home . I did not see such scenes but yes after having travelled by the locals , i just cannot imagine Mumbai minus the locals..they are indeed , the heartline of the city and real time-crunchers.
I met Shriyansh who took me to his place(Poor chap!He has to take a leave off his office to attend me). In all this exercise , Shriyansh himself was as new to Mumbai as I was and was discovering Mumbai just as any other nouveau-to-Mumbai would do.We went to the Inorbit Mall and in the evening to Juhu where we had the unlimited-parantha-spree and met Abhishek who in turn had lost his cell .

I was particularly , intrigued with the Mumbai Mirror V/s DNA V/s HT campaign which had painted more than half of the city and almost all of locals'
stations . Mumbai is a big city and a lot of things happen in Mumbai maybe that explains , so many newspapers . Even Delhi is yet to have a tabloid ..IT's Today is yet to establish itself.

The next day I was out on my book-shopping-spree . Churchgate-Oxford Store-Crossword(Even the much hyped Crossword-flagship-store-at-Kemps did not live up to the expectations..I believe the Bang one is miles better and is so big and un-cluttered that it gives you the freedom of what you wish to do)..and then Nariman Point..the place I liked the most in Mumbai...sitting right across the mighty sea..a world on its own...was an experince in its own . The next day to
Haji Ali-Mahalaxmi-Crossroads . I was not willing to go to Gateway thanks to the gory incident that had happened the day before and then thehuge-distances-and-constant travelling had sapped me of all my thrill and excitement . I was really amazed to see as to how do people cover such large distances in Mumbai and get used to this kind of travelling by locals . The final day , by then I had a dug a hole deep enough in my friends' pockets , I left NITIE and went to Shriya's place again . Had pani-puri , bhel-puri and rushed for the spot to board the bus . The delay resulted in a slightly frantic where-the-hell-is-the-bus search... But well, the bus was also late, which meant that we were early... So, stood around... And like I said to Shriya, "kal mail par milte hain"... The bus came soon after, I boarded it... And then it moved on..spent three hours moving around in Mumbai only...

The tinted windows were useless...And then...I left...

Out of all the things that the all of us have done together, I think I miss just sitting together and talking the most...

I went , I saw , and I rightly believe , Mumbai is "the" happening place..the locals , the sea , the night life , the dash of "Mumbaiyaa Rains" , the babes and more babes-in-backless-tank-tops(talking of gals who all thought that Bang had the best lot..please visit Mumbai) .

Call it Mumbai , Bombay or Shanghai-in-the-making...indeed , THE CITI NEVER SLEEPS.

Salaam BOMBAY!!

The Power of Words

2005-06-20T13:42:00.000+05:30

This is a follow-up of my last post.

Harshvardhan Navathe , Abhijeet Sawant and Piyush Srivastava(the guy who topped JEEs) . What do they have in common ? They are all overnight-celebrities thanks to the invasion of media into the homes of middle-class families . It's a new revolution and PAGE 3 is now your PAGE 1 !

And I sit here in Hyd watching Piyush on the front page of TOI . It's not that people in my times or people before my times never achieved such mammoth laurels but did they ever hit the Front Page ?

And thanks to a slew of niche newspapers and TV channels in the offing things cant help but become more interesting . Mumbai is already facing an onslaught of newspapers and the competition as it appears now will definitely make things more interesting in times to come . Who would know maybe , you hit the PAGE 3 tomorrow!!

The Power of a Click

2005-06-20T12:00:00.000+05:30

Before you go through this post please visit http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_zero_gravity_pen.htm .

Now this better explains the purpose of this post . A few days back I received this crazy forward of the proposed Infy Manglore campus . Being vetti for more info i googled the image and found that the pics were actually of an amusement park coming somwhere in some other part of the globe. What is really strange , I had recieved that forward from friends who did not even work in Infy and I was really amazed and empowered at the power of the "click" of the mouse button . Do we actually bother to check the forward before sending it across to alnost everybody on our mailing list ? Nope. Who has the time , right .

This is not all . All those forwards that tell you that i need AB+ blood or showing an innocent pic of an ailing kid and asking for help are internet hoaxes . If this is not all , the Bhagat Singh forward which came back to all of almost after a year of its origin really sets the alarm ringing!!

Please execrise your discretion when you send a forward next time.

In response to Recycle Raga..

2005-06-16T04:32:00.000+05:30

I remember facing "Things come a full circle" as a topic for my GD in the third year of my engineering . I spoke against the topic just because there was majority of junta speaking in favour of the topic and I intended to sound a little different . I did not realise the amount of gravity this phrase has till I read Gladwell's Tipping Point and I saw the way metreologists across the country are trying to drive home the India Inc that Monsoons in India follow a sine curve that is they are regular one year and irregular the other and really I have come to believe that things do come a full circle.

Be it Food , Music or Fashion . You have to see it to believe it. And the Calcutta of 60's in Parineeta really rocks!!

And so I dont agree with "old is not gold" .Old is gold and will always remains so . The way the old songs are being re-mixed and are being picked by gen next , the way my sister or you would have taken out those old short kurtis of my or your mother , the nose ring et al.

Things come a full circle .Everything follows a sine curve ; what goes up must come down.
It's just that the wine gets better with the age ;)

I am on PAGE 3!!

2005-06-15T15:43:00.000+05:30

Accolades in the first Caferati-Hyd's Read Meet!

And I'm right on the PAGE 3!!

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/06/15/stories/2005061500730300.htm

Thats the way..

2005-06-07T09:45:00.000+05:30

MysDC
Originally uploaded by zeninwork.

The memories of MysDC are still fresh in my mind. But it is not the kingly treatment i had received at the DC or the facilites-though that will mark space on another blog , but a strong community feeling among people that struck me the most .

I had always cherished this one dream to study in a place where people form strong bonds -a strong community feeling which persists even after the course ends..a life beyond the boundaries of curricula . And I could sense that on my solitary-walks-in-the-wee-hours-of-morning when I saw groups sitting together , playing guitars and singing songs..I saw a firang croon with the group to Euphoria's "Maeri Ri" and it was really unbelievable..and I saw strong bonds being formed in just a span of four months...people embracing one another with tears in their eyes as they left for their final postings.

Some moments indeed live forever...

..and i climbed the highest peak

2005-06-06T18:11:00.000+05:30

tadiyen1
Originally uploaded by zeninwork.

7 hours of sweat and 60 minutes of glory...Tadiyendamol.

...and i climbed the highest peak.

www.ebhasin.com/karnataka/tdamol.htm

My ANTHEM

2005-05-15T19:37:00.003+05:30

On The Road Again

"On the road again -
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is making music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again -Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way
And our wayis on the road again.
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends
Insisting that the world keep turning our way
And our wayis on the road again.
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
And I can't wait to get on the road again."

~Willie Nelson

An Equal Music

2005-05-15T19:37:00.000+05:30

"And into that gate they shall enter, and in that house they shall dwell,
where there shall be no cloud, nor sun, no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light, no noise nor silence, but one equal music, no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession,no foes nor friends, but one equal communion and identity, no ends nor beginnings,
but one equal eternity."

~John Donne

I m back..

2005-05-09T19:08:00.000+05:30

..after a long time...

Jus came back from a rockin vaction in the NILGIRIS...perhaps my best trip..
and I am sure that Neha Dhupia needs to do a rethink on her statement that only "sex and SRK sells in our country"...perhaps the most overlooked of all Indian brands in the inmitable Punjabi Dhaba which we found even in a place as remote as Arvenu serving us steaming DAL FRY....nothing beats it.

Tagore's b'day went by silently this weekend....

A Rendezvous with Memories

2005-03-17T17:31:00.000+05:30

College festivals have played an integral role in all our lives.They were eagerly awaited not only because they provide a welcome break from the rigmarole of the morose college life but also because they were a perfect occasion for M&As(mergers and accquisitions)....and then also , in Sultanpur people wanted something more than the regular Shri , Mehmaan and a Cool Home and the festival sort of provided a warrant for us excuse me , them to walk around(for some lucky ones hand in hand) with members of the fairer sex and for gurls to flaunt their latest pair of jeans(now gurls please dont get going at this...).
My association with these festivals started way back in my hay school days, "inter-institutional" as it was known then and St. Joseph's was always the permanent host simply because we had the biggest auditorium among all schools in Allahabad , though we always drew a lot of flak every year for organising the festival and then virtually emerging as the over-all champions too.The festival used to be huge in scale as well as participation.The most sought after participants were of course , our neighbouring campus St.Mary's.Two days of festival and for these two days St. Mary's would flock in full attendance to St. Joseph's and the big question used to be as to who would be incharge of the gurl's green room....The most looked-on event was of course ,the fashion show and believe me they were really so well executed and choreographed ...so much detail went into them that they r tons better than all the live shows and the ones i have seen on tv and very interestingly one of those very people is busy fighting it out to make it to Milan in Lakme Fashion House these days on Star ONE.But the festival never ended after the prize-distribution ceremony.There were celebrations and brickbats...lots of accounts to be settled between St. Joseph's and our utmost rival school Boy's High...some pissed off as to how did one even dared to look at his girlfriend while the other over some event's result.But it used to be one big fun and really one can look back and say "those were the days....".
Back at KNIT,i have lots of memories of Effulgence, a festival of a magnitude KNIT had never seen before and a festival known more for reasons than it should not have been known for.A celebrity nite , Sixer-the mixed cricket(boys and gurls playing together) for the first time which became a permanent fixture from there on with forget Sports Council , forums like Electrum(Electrical Engg) and ISTE fighting it out as to who would take the onus of organising it ,the PFAC exhibition with its rangoli and mehandi competition which had more boys than girls as its participants, the first of its kind open-air Cultural Nite and some trite seniors-prepare-it-you-present-it paper presentations thrown around here n there.In fact even the paper presentations were tweaked in to bring in an element of glamour and arouse curiosity..yes we had another first , boys and gurls giving papers together...aur phir march ki tapti dhhop mein jaakar cybercafe mein google search karte hue hamare couples ka paye jaana...Neway KNIT for the first time paid host to a celebrity so huge as Shibani Kashyap so naturally , she had her own share of starry tantrums and that is another long story in itself...after much f*** n all she finally made an apperance on the stage and the show was an instant hit till someone in a jovial Holi mood threw some gulal around and the show was called off....Oh ! How badly i wish i can live those moments again..

"Le chalein
Le chalein
Yaadon ke kafile."

LOST...

2005-03-09T18:34:00.000+05:30

..glory!!
Tagore's shantiniketan is in trouble......

If a stolen Noble and manuscripts were not enough...dilapidated buildings and shabby library add woes to this sob story.....
and guess what its not the funds that they are short of...
the university's walls as in the effort of raising some funds are being used for promotion of some underwear brand called Phantom and the gardens for some commerical flower shows....

I guess we need another Jackie-Chan-in-Hampi event to make people realise as to what is at stake......

Their offerings and my song offerings....

http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2005/mar/09santi.htm

Money Money Money...

2005-03-09T18:20:00.000+05:30

Americans have strange financial practices they make you pay for being careful and paying your loans on time...
A young Yankee is supposed to be capricious and careless and so he gets the loans at lower rates...but as he grows up..he gets married , grows his family and becomes more responsible and hence derives loans at very high premium rates.....
Once again as he grows old he tends to forget things and therefore manages money at pretty cheap rates....

Quite a price.....