You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2010.
Corrupt will be punished after Commonwealth Games, says Sonia.
Famous last words.
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One possibility: Because the games are our national pride and only a month remains, arrangements will be made at war-footing, money will be thrown at problems and the games will be a ‘success’. They will make chests swell with pride (which is even more awesome if you are a mansierre salesman) and these charges will be lost in other news.
Now if only Aishwarya could have that long-awaited tiny B ..
9 UK students booked for ‘insulting’ Indian flag.
You know the drill: Ignorant foreigners use flag as a piece of clothing. Case registered.
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If the flag were a person, I would recommend psychiatrist treatment — it is far too sensitive. But it’s not a person. So we must do all we can to avoid hurting its feelings.
Earlier post on our rather touchy national flag here.
MNS targets theatre owners for Marathi movies.
Maharashtra is fast turning into the most fundamentalist state in India.
.. while farmers are dying in Vidarbha.
A Parisian police spokesman:
“We would advise anyone withdrawing cash from a machine to focus on what they are doing and not allow themselves to be distracted, however attractive the view,” the spokesman said.
For context, here’s the news.
Here’s something I tweeted yesterday. Judging by the rounds it has been doing, many seem to agree:
Enjoy Independence day. Unless you’re a tribal, Kashmiri, smoker, gay, Dalit, woman or Blackberry user.
It’s taking me longer than usual to recover from the hike. I hope to post about the experience and snaps. Colorado was stunning, as always.
Meanwhile, let the links keep coming.
I loved the music of Indian Ocean when I was studying in India. A couple of years later, I thought that their sound was one-dimensional, and I became an Indian Ocean atheist. Turns out, I didn’t really understand much of their music then. I’ve come around once again.
There is much more to their music than meets the ear(?). I saw a documentary recently, Leaving Home: The Life And Music of Indian Ocean. See if you can find a copy online, or wait for a screening near you. It is a simply made documentary. Their story isn’t fascinating either. But hearing them explain their thought process behind each song is a treat. None of the members are ustads, but when they play together, they create music that one instantly connects to (unlike that group of genuises, Remember Shakti)
This one statistic should put Indian Ocean in perspective: After playing together for 19 years, they have released 30 songs. Not albums, songs. The time spent in the creative process is a critical factor in making music multi-layered: It is why A.R. Rahman’s music always has much to be discovered, and why Himesh Reshammiya’s creations can be understood wholly in one fleeting listen. You may disagree that A.R. Rahman’s music is special, but you have to agree that it has many layers which you discover in subsequent hearings. (However, you may not disagree that Himesh’s music is mostly rubbish)
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A nice piece in Mint on the group.
I was sent a link to this article from Open Magazine:
The Scientific Case against Astrology
The article is well-researched and elaborate: What a waste of time!
Link via Mukta M.
Vivek Oberoi is soon-to-be-married. As I read this interview, I had to chuckle at a few bits:
Tell us more about Priyanka
[...] she is very real, she loves me for what I am and not what I do.
Not surprising, considering what he does is Road, Dum, Masti, Kyun Ho Gaya Na, Kisna, Kaal, Deewane Hue Paagal, Home Delivery, Pyaare Mohan, Fool N Final, Mission Istanbul and Prince — and a special mention for an over the top performance in Shootout at Lokhandwala. Had he hammed it up any further, Islamists would’ve gotten on his case.
Right from the word go, she looked at me as a person and not a Bollywood actor.
That should’ve been easy — only one of those exists.
Has she seen your films?
Of course she has. But honestly, we hardly talk about films.
I can take a wild guess why.
Besides, being the Education minister of Karnataka, her father did a lot of humanitarian work.
and now this is her contribution.
Namaste.
If the sudden barrage of posts makes you wonder what the catch here is, I’ll save you some trouble: I’ll be gone for a few days this weekend on the biggest hike of this summer: The annual visit to Colorado. I’m trying to not keep any backlog of posts.
We plan to summit two 13ers and a 14er. The 14er is a challenging climb. I would’ve loved to embed snaps, but it would be a bad idea because my family reads this blog. It’s three days before we fly to Colorado, and the feeling I’m having now is exactly like the one before an important exam. The same weird feeling in the stomach; the same wait to get over with it. Being composed is more critical for a climb than it is for an exam. (The stakes are marginally higher, if you know what I mean.) It’s all in the mind. I take it you’re sitting on a chair as you’re reading this. Now imagine your chair is the edge of a cliff and there is nothing for a thousand feet below you. Now make that two thousand feet. That’s two hundred floors. Having fun?
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The amusing part is that half of our group doesn’t know what we’re dealing with. We’ve withheld snaps of the most delicious part of our trek else they’d be in a similar condition.
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Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with the toughest part of last year’s trek. I believe it is safe to release it now (click on the image for full-size):
The two tiny dots are my hiking partner and I.
