So you were in Goa for New Year!
“So you were in Goa for New Year!” is the question I have been asked repeatedly over the last week or so. I guess it must be important to be there at that time, though I did not notice any change in the water, sand or sun – all of it was as pleasant as ever. To us that was all that really mattered.
I must mention, though, that the quality of service and food at the hotel we stayed in was not as good as it was on our previous visit (which was not on the ‘New Year’).
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2 minute read | 325 words
"Customer is king" conditions apply
‘You can have any color Model T you want, as long as it is black’ is a famous Henry Ford quote from a long time ago. Or is it? No, no, it is still a Ford quote, but I am not sure if it is from a long time ago. That’s the way I felt when I was recently at a car dealer’s showroom. It not only felt like a million years away from the 21st century buzz word called ‘mass customization’ but I came back feeling that the company was out to make a sucker of me.
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6 minute read | 1187 words
World Summit of Information Societies - Report
The ICT4All (Information and Communication Technologies) exhibition that accompanied the World Summit of Information Societies in Tunis, Tunisia was, in real terms, for all. From 15-19 November, 2005, exhibitors of all shades displaying a range of technologies and solutions that could be called ‘liberating’. Consider telemedicine, community radio, playground computers etc. And then there were the usual suspects like Microsoft, Intel, and CISCO occupying center-stage with space commensurate with their financial muscle.
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4 minute read | 683 words
In Tunisia
A good traveler has an open mind. And if not, then good travel jolts him or her out of the habit of falling in for the stereotype and see things as they really are and not as locals in either country would have one believe.
My recent trip to Tunisia made me into a bit better traveler, or so I’d like to believe. I went in with an image of ‘Arab Africa’ accompanied with a baggage of stereotype.
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2 minute read | 301 words
More Pictures from Tunisia
Some more pictures from my Tunisia trip.
Old houses in Tunis, Tunisia Click on any image to view an enlarged image gallery
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1 minute read | 22 words
Driving round the bends in Himachal
M iddle-age has its symptoms. In my case, I sense an old flame flaring up. My passion for travel, especially to the mountains, is getting a fresh supply of oxygen with each passing year. Every experience leaves me craving for more: a more exotic and a more adventurous fix. Best of all, instead of threatening my marital life, mountains help us spend time together away from the constantly ringing phones, endless homework, and the relentless tube.
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21 minute read | 4406 words
Educating the rural children
Who will teach the teachers to see the hunger for learning in these bright sparks?
“I am not sure, what is it that I want to do when I grow up… I don’t know… maybe I’ll get a job of some sort… or may be I will drive the camel cart, like my father… I am not sure at all, but I am not thinking about it…” As his voice died out, 10-year-old Ratan turned his spectacularly bright eyes to the ground.
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5 minute read | 947 words
Am I a Hindu?
I was born a Hindu, and had no choice in the matter. As an adult I have had no doubt in my mind that to me, personally, god, idols,temples or pilgrimages have no meaning at all. Yet, I have never refused to go to a temple or participate in a ‘puja’ along with my family, mainly because I believe that religion serves a purpose, it gives meaning, hope and direction to the lives of a lot of people and I should not do anything to take this away from them.
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5 minute read | 1026 words
In search of a hero
A review of “Impressions of Bhima”
Directed by Veenapani Chawla At British Council Division
It’s been almost ten years since Veenapani Chawla attended Eugenio Barba’s theatre laboratory. Ten years, two substantial productions and a few small pieces for local audiences in Pondicherry, where she now lives. Not much, one could assume, for the quiet girl whose passion for theatre first began while doing backstage work in college productions in Delhi’s Miranda House.
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8 minute read | 1646 words
#comment, #contemporary dance, #contemporary theatre, #kalari, #kalarippayattu, #martial arts
The Enlightened Body
The history and practise of the Indian martial art Kalarippayattu
Dawn. Outside, a cool “half-light” heralds the ritual of prayer, as temple bells wake a sleeping village. Inside, however, the flickers of light from a solitary oil lamp light up red earthen walls and the mud-packed floor under an ageing thatched roof — mute witnesses to the ritual of combat.
Surrounded by the silent aura of warm red earth, two glistening, oil-soaked bodies come forward slowly, like leopards about to attack.
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22 minute read | 4508 words
#comment, #contemporary dance, #contemporary theatre, #kalari, #kalarippayattu, #martial arts