Xmass

Park Street was crowded but lit up well, as was Theatre Rd. Am beginning to feel that Facebook is the only place where dislocated junta belongs- many times run together there- school, College...
Shoppng with mom was interesting- prices should be written large in order to be read by longsighted people. We drank free trial soup but resisted the offer in favour of soup made with fresh tomatoes.

Yaagh

Saw an awful play by Feisal Alkazi called Chaal. Based on Talented Mr. Ripley, it had simultaneous events on stage, flubbed lines and incomprehensible time jumps. Very unlike his usual work.

Zila Khan

Jogging again. Hear a peacock call today. Apples and oranges now form breakfast. The Zila Khan performance was good. I like Sufi songs. Her voice is very flexible. Sounds of Isha was also very good. They had some unusual instruments.

Day 1

Aargh! Nothing's working. My Excel sheet got me less than 1 grand, adopt a plot got me less than half a grand. At least the gyan I read about being able to identify with MCs came in useful, as it led to my abandoning my adopted plot. I felt like writing a humourous story, so I've started that, but it's not funny so far.. and less than half a grand.

Have discovered I write in bursts, by the seat of my pants. At least poetry- even if it's just about my day- has that theme. But it's fun to be able to put keyboard to screen. Now all I have to do is say something meaningful:)

But it's a huge kick to see that dot on your graph- you've already done a grand, and are more than half way through to the next one!

Of course having bonsais is a bit of a downer when the idea is to grow a plant...let's see..

Maybe I can develop the plot as the story goes along..I love it when the story surprises you.

Novemberthon

Am doing Nano. Wish me luck.

Thank you.

Up some dates

Hungarian music tap tap

Magic of Broadway rap

Diwali Mela melees

Play by Israelis

Columbian concert calls

If rice permits, to halls.

Mephisto's Manifesto

I'm really enjoying and learning a lot at the Muse Online Writers' Conference. Writing a novel no longer seems that scary. Using Excel to plot it, is the way I prefer to use Excel:) Although trying to blog everyday has helped me discipline myself as a writer, the flip side is that while writing sometimes, my blog style comes to me sometimes.

Still, I've managed to plot my novel's outline, logline and main characters' characteristics. I'm going to get down to writing everyday now, even if it's only 500 words a day- so that in some months I will have something substantial to look at.

Another spur is a coaching session with one of the writers at the conference- to discuss my problems with her, I need to write and have problems first:)

Although I read that core competency is at work in writing too- which is why Eliot is known more for poetry- it's difficult to imagine him as a novelist- at least one novel is in everyone.

As a couple of people a couple of years ago told me to write a book, I think I need to.

Last time I started, I ended up with a short story.

This time, I'm observing life around me from a writing point of view. Also, looking at writing differently- analysing while reading: why does this description work here, how has this author managed to hold reader interest.

All this also impacts my life- if a character is supposed to develop by the end of a novel, one does think of how one has developed(or not) over the years.

I had also forgotten writing's function of cohesion- now when I try to string my story together, I see the connections more clearly. Still have to get around to the imagination bit though.

In that sense, my poetry draws from life. I'm planning to experiment a bit with form now. Let's see.

Hopefully, putting this up will further motivate me to get going.

You hearing me, subconscious?

Need to work together again..:)

The New Century & the Dark Side of Globalization

Attended the 2nd Annual Penguin Lecture. This time the speaker was Lord Patten. As he too spoke on globalization, I had trouble keeping his and Friedman's lecture of last year straight. His wit kept us in splits throughout. The cocktails at the British Council rounded off a very pleasant evening.

Comic relief

Watched Namak Mirch- 4 short Urdu plays- hilarious. The Stein auditorium was packed. They covered a wide gamut of subjects- from matchmaking to taking digs at shayars to superstitions.

Comedy seems to go down well with Delhi.

An Old Friend Outgrew Me:(

Observed a virtual sabbath yesterday. Got an insight in the life of a chef today. Learnt how to make tomato rice yesterday. Also put a face pack which is supposed to get the wearer married faster (!) and watched Kidnap- Imran Khan's looking good.

To b-school

And Oblige
by Dorothy Parker
When I've made a million dollars—it may take a year or two
At the present rate of speed that things are going—
There are various little matters that are somewhat overdue,
And the prospect, at the moment, isn't glowing;
But as soon as I've a million, as I started in to say,
Life will be, I take it, gloriously happy;
For already I am planning to expend it in a way
That will be, if I may say it, rather snappy.
I will charter me a taxicab of cheery white and brown,
And you'll never catch me glancing at the meter!
And I'll make a little tour of all the milliners in town;
And the question is, Could anything be sweeter?
Just for stamps and lunch and cigarettes, each morn I'll draw a check
For a thousand dollars, payable to bearer,
And you'll hear the pearls a-clanking, as I drape them on my neck.
It occurs to me that little could be fairer.
It is true that a million doesn't take you very far,
And it's hard to find another when you've shot it;
But I'll blow it like the widely known inebriated tar,
For I want to be a good one while I've got it.
So the minute I've a million, I'll go right ahead and spend,
Though it doesn't last me more than over Sunday.
In the meantime, though, I wonder, as a favor to a friend,
Could you let me have a dollar—say, till Monday?

Gwendolyn Brooks

a song in the front yard
I've stayed in the front yard all of my life.

I want a peek at the back

Where it's rough and untended and hungry weed grows.

A girl gets sick of a rose.
I want to go in the back yard now

And maybe down the alley,

To where the charity children play.

I want a good time today.
They do some wonderful things.

They have some wonderful fun.

My mother sneers, but I say it's fine

How they don't have to go in at quarter to nine.

My mother, she tells me that

Johnnie MaeWill grow up, to be a bad woman.

That George'll be taken to jail soon or late

(On account of last winter he sold our back gate).

But I say it's fine. Honest, I do.A

nd I'd like to be a bad woman, too,

And wear the brave stockings of night-black lace

And strut down the streets with pain on my face

Now & Next

Feeling wide awake after some filter coffee today morning. Have to go traipsing around Delhi for a friend.

Yesterdemain

Watched a contemporary dance performance by Rashid Ansari yesterday. I liked the Japanese sword fighting sequence too. I was pleasantly surprised to see my College Math teacher Nandita Narain singing. She did some bird whistles too. Did sound like the earth bursting in spring- they were some instruments I had not heard earlier.

My heart is yours

What good is advice

I have drunk poison

What good is sugar

They say tie his feet up

What good is that

When it is my heart that's crazy?

'Tis true, 'tis pity. 'Tis pity, 'tis true.

The weekend so far

Am catching on in french class. Had a great time at a friend's farewell- got great threads, junk jewellery, curtains, kitchenware:) Went to Dariba to buy anklets for her. Am now planning my next trip:)

Kairos

Big Brands & Facebook: Demographics, Case Studies & Best Practices

From: charleneli, 11 months ago

Big Brands & Facebook: Demographics, Case Studies & Best Practices

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: gsp07 facebook)

Just updated the PPT with demo data from Facebook.


SlideShare Link

Kairos

Social network websites: best practices from leading services

From: faberNovel, 9 months ago

Social network websites: best practices from leading services

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web2.0 socialplatform)

This document provides a general background for understanding social network websites and the study of online matchmaking websites and business network websites

This study is only the first step. Distributed under creative commons license, it should be completed and improved through the contribution of external experts, firms and web users as major moves in the industry are expected to occur in the coming months



SlideShare Link

So true

"It is human to have a long childhood; it is civilized to have an even longer childhood. Long childhood makes a technical and mental virtuoso out of man, but it also leaves a life-long residue of emotional immaturity in him."
— Erik Homburger Erikson (1902-1994)

Back, Bang Bang

The air here is polluted. It is hotter too, after the descent. (Incidentally, that is also how a shaadi.com user spells decent.)

Had a bit of a dharmic overdose- but otherwise I had a lot of fun- testing my limits, battling shoebite, trekking in torchlight..the works.

The first trek was easy- I was the first to complete it.

The Valley of Flowers was in another world, another time dimension altogether. the best part was no horses, so no horsedung. The flowers were in a majority, we were in a minority- just how nature intended things to be.

Hemkund Sahib was steep- the toughest trek I have attempted so far- so it felt good to complete it. i count completing a trek when we reach the ground, not the top- as the top is only half done.

The trek back was a breeze.

I liked the temple at Badrinath- a first. Silver. Also did a havan.

Bought wonderful woollens- handknit- from the source:)

A much needed holiday that refreshed me completely- also managed to lose some weight- so am planning to have fruits so as to not undo the good work done:)

Reality Bites

The sequel cannot top the original

Panache comes but once, c'est droll.

Space, the final frontier

Astropohotography- uniting art and science- was the subject yesterday evening. Shutter speed, length of time the aperture is open and exposure are the parameters one can play with when one wants to shoot celestial bodies. A tripod with something to keep the shutter open is required, as one may need to keep the shutter open for 6 hours- stars move slowly across the sky.

The stars trails is visible as a curve. The partial solar eclipse at sunrise in Delhi 2007, with joggers in the foregound, had people thinking that the ones in the photo were running from the eclipse:)

Other out of the box ideas were leaving the parking lights on to get a reddish shade to a monument in the foregound of another photo of a star.

22 July 2009 ( maybe June) is when a total solar eclipse will happen in India. in Delhi, 85% of the sun will be covered. Patna, Vishakapatnam etc will witness a total eclipse of the heart.

Bepardah

Pardah Bagh in Daryaganj is the lone women's only park in Delhi. Quite an experience, a female utopia, the kind perhaps Atwood wrote of.

Morning Walk

Sultanghari, where Iltutmish built a tomb for his son, was very majestic. Recycled stones with rough carvings of feet were the discovery of the day. Also, a well dating from 1418 & an inscription mentioning it's being built.

Bahadur Shah Zafar hunted hares here- the villagers did not let him hunt nilgai and later even deer. He would come from his palace in Mehrauli. Looks like Delhi's farmhouse custom is ancient:)

Indian Art Summit 2008

The Indian Art Summit of Modern & Contemporary Art at Pragati Maidan was a slight letdown in terms of content. I liked Paresh Maity's giant sculptures. Overall, Indian artists still seem to be searching for apt idioms. I'm tired of looking at goddesses superimposed on female figures, skeletal men and psychedelic colours.

Rememberance of things past now

"Kairos" (opportunity, time, chance).

The original bronze allegoric statue made by Lysippos stood at his home, in the Agora of Hellenistic Sikyon.

Epigram of Posidippos, on the statue of Kairos by Lysippos:

Who and whence was the sculptor?

From Sikyon.

And his name?

Lysippos.

And who are you?

Time who subdues all things.

Why do you stand on tip-toe?

I am ever running.

And why you have a pair of wings on your feet?

I fly with the wind.

And why do you hold a razor in your right hand?

As a sign to men that I am sharper than any sharp edge.

And why does your hair hang over your face?

For him who meets me to take me by the forelock.

And why, in Heaven's name, is the back of your head bald?

Because none whom I have once raced by on my winged feet will now, though he wishes it sore, take hold of me from behind.

Why did the artist fashion you?

For your sake, stranger, and he set me up in the porch as a lesson.

In nature's lap

The Family's watching me

Gulp.

Yeh hai Filmistan meri jaan

Bought my tickets for the Osian Cinefan fest. Looking forward to Mumbai Cutting.

Muvee

Watched a fun rom com- The Holiday.

De ja voo

Enjoyed myself as usual at Caferati.

Also, giving gyan to someone who's in the same boat as i was a couple of years ago.

Whopper tellers

The Storytelling workshop was supercalifragilisticexpialidocius fun. Puppets, dancers, actors, pint sized story tellers made for a very entertaining Saturday morning.

Currently

Like the descriptions and characters in Sacred Games

Adventure Island

Loved the Flip Out ride at Adventure Island- being turned upside down really gets your adrenalin flowing:) Also liked Side winder, bumping bars, jhoola, splash down.

Vitruvian woman

Josh spots.

Top management...

...draws Venn diagrams.

Art of Negotiation

Learning while earning.

I love shopping

When it rains good things, it pours. Am beating inflation by shopping at USI sales.

Dr. Jones Dr. Jones, calling Dr. Jones...

This Indiana Jones was a shadow of the earlier ones- but I got nostalgic remembering how mom n I caught the festival in Cal.

Skills summary

College

How to analyse

Never give up.

Bschool

MS Office operation

Googling skills

Work

Never give up.

Data management

Those who can, do. Those who cannot, consult.

P/review

Noone should get married before they are 40. Thus spoke a playboy I met on a plane, thus confirmed Sex and the City. Witty, touching, with gorgeous men, this is a must watch.

Dessert

Treating my cousin at Mystic ball, I sampled lingo as well. Rigged is the female equivalent of ra**ed. Can't we do better?

Shopping

We hunted in pindrop silence, our eyes scanning our prey. The only other time I remember such silence happening is when we eat.

Unfortunately, SN does not allow us to try on our loot. Of my 9 purchases, I only liked one.

But I had such fun:)

Ed!

I've always felt education is the single biggest enabler anyone can have. Broadening it's scope is essential. Kids are bright, even when they are called slow or don't do well in class. It's often confidence or an inappropriate teaching method which is at the heart of the problem.

I love teaching because the results are so immediate- it's like producing brands, watching them grow and become independent. I'm usually learning hindi as a byproduct:)

Game khel raha hai

The May issue of HBR had an article on leadership's online labs. It's true, I've learnt a lot from games and do feel that simulations can motivate people to visualise themselves in roles involving greater responsibility.

How open companies would be to using games on a larger scale than they do, is the question.

In Defense of English Honours

Support came from an entirely unexpected quarter- the Times of India. In yesterday's main section- not even Education Times- I saw a headline designed to gladden my heart- English (H) the most sought after course.

What delighted me was that the article was substantially correct- namely, the course develops your analytical skills, you end up studying history, sociology, anthropoly, economics along with good writing.

It's heartening that people have now begun to recognise that.

Not that I took it for these reasons- I just loved literature, then discovered most of my class had taken it for the same reason. We were in collective anguish in third year when the party came to an end.

Studying about minorities and being in one- that too, a minority of one- in bschool were two entirely different things. Sometimes I too would think that my major in College was a waste from a vocational point of view.

Liberal arts- whether history, philosophy, economics- to a lesser extent did help us become more articulate.

Passion is by it's very nature, inexplicable. I had difficulty understanding how someone could take up history or philosophy. I guess therefore on some level I understood why my bschool batchmates looked at me as if I had horns.

But at the end of the day, passion makes it all worthwhile.

As Langston Hughes said, What happens to a dream that dies?

We must resuscitate them.

Or be dead men and women walking.

Goan Sunset

Sun streaked sand

Liquid gold drops of sun

Drip down the throat rills of sands

Sun butter spreads on

Octaves of waves.

It's been a while

Enjoyed reading friends' blogs so much I got in the blogging mood.

Watched an Italian play, Yerma- the music was very dancey. The freedom of the whirling washerwomen seemed in stark contrast to the daily life of women in reality. The uninhibited laughter may only be possible on stage. Otherwise, Yerma's feeling that she is filled with poison and bewailing the lack of a child got on her husband's nerves as well as ours.

Khamosh! Adalat Jaari Hai had us rolling in our seats. The indifference of the men to the pain of the woman again showed that this was a Vijay Tendulkar play.

Also went on a walk to the Hauz Khas monuments. Now whenever I pass them, my neighbours seem different, with stories and histories.

Ludhiana English, where I was called the Nupur, Tashan style, left me speechless.

Am thoroughly enjoying my new role: Planning- and touchwood, doing well in it too. It's fun to strategise, problem solve for clients, identify differentiators. It's blissful to finally be in advertising, notwithstanding the ungodly hours. Considering 80% of our waking time is spent at work, it makes sense to do something you enjoy. It's been a while since I worked hard and juggled multiple variables simultaneously.

Mangalorean cuisine is delectable, though the name of the mushroom dish escapes me. A Shetty I know called herself mangy:)

Spencer's is done up so well- I love the carts with cars.

Play

Watched Feisal Alkazi's After Dark. Original humour is tough to do, but he does a good job. I'm not a fan of different stories running simultaneously. When they connected though, I felt a little better.

Beachcombing

Bangalore bus rides

Goa pool sides

Beer feni waves wallop

Spring rolls scallop

Paragliding jetskiing

Banana riding upturning

Sunset squelched sand

Deaf to work demands

Blissful dissipation

Divine recreation.

Shacks

Goa's good.

Atonement

Mr. Monosyllable

Sorry I'm so voluble.

Contemporary Poets

I also like Wislawa Szymborska's work. Wish my ouvre was not so limited.

Plays Pleasant

Watched Habib Tanvir's Agra Bazar and Ponga Pandit. Enjoyed the sitcom, slapstick, song and dance; specially as the former was in open air.

Time after time

Listened to a couple of choirs yesterday. One sang Hava Nagila...we had sung that fifteen years ago.

Am now officially feeling older:)

Energy

Hell and Illuminations, which showcased Rimbaud's poetry in dramatic form, opened with masked dancers. His poetry is very Romantic, his images sweeping and he also gave voice to Ophelia. We travelled all over seas with him, as he swept us along. He "has inherited from his ancestors, the Gauls, lust, magnificent lust. Sloth too."

The Indian dance movements which seemed to be interludes came across as forced, however.

डर के आगे जीत है

I was told once that when you point a finger at someone, three point back at you.

They’re called Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

You can create, maintain or destroy your status quo.

Ebrahim Alkazi: Life & Times

Ebrahim Alkazi, the Father of Theatre in India, received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Delhi Government. He took us through his life's work- using photographs on a projector.

A perfectionist, the scale on which he envisions and executes performances is consistently immense.

Among some of the anecdotes he shared, were Nehru's bodyguards rushing to protect him when actors were doing a "मारों पकडके मारो " scene from Dharamveer Bharti's Andha Yug at Ferozeshah Kotla. Nehru warned him that there were snakes at old monuments, something he discovered to be true at Purana Kila.

The photographs of the performance of Karnad's Tughlaq at Lal Kila were imposing. The fort came alive with the men who were attired in the outfits of the age. The steps were carpeted. They belonged to the fort, owned it, seemed to have lived there forever.

On another occasion the guilottine on stage collapsed. The hysterical actors had to be hospitalised.

Choreography of the women in Troy was also stunning. They circled the protagonist, echoing her grief.

The stage for King Lear in Sahitya Akademi was a bare room. The corrugated iron sheets used were deliberately rusted. Alkazi's attention to detail came through in all his productions.

A particular tree in the Akademi area attracted him with it's "character" and he staged several open air productions there. One of them was Premchand's Godaan. He built from a photograph of a villager sipping from a लोटा - he wanted to show the spirit of survival as embodied by his sinewy arm.

In Mumbai, he asked the landlord of a building that he liked for permission to do theatre on the terrace. Several water tanks were removed, Mumbaikars trudged six floors up to see his productions. As the stepped seats where the audience sat were directly above the dressing room, all comments on the productions could be heard.

For a production of Tennessee William's Suddenly, Last Summer- a "vicious, terrible play" Alkazi got skulls of animals butchered by his cook and perched them on the terrace stage for the desired atmosphere.

A man with a cult following, it is a pity he has not done any productions for the last twenty years, preferring to paint.

A recluse now, it was a treat to hear his adda on theatre and how he had shaped it.

Kudos to Ms. Shiela Dixit for this idea of hers, or else we may never have had this opportunity to learn about this horse from his mouth.

Male got me

Every man
Should read Anne
Of Green Gables
Guys watch cable.

Pi

I liked Life of Pi. A fantastical tale, I felt the narrator's terror. I admired his courage, as he fought his fear. It took me to another world. Vernon God Little is not as absorbing.

Howler

"दीदी, क्या rebel का मतलब उसने फिर से bell बजाया?"

!

Obfuscations

Claudio Magris's reading on love's grammar- love has no tenses, but many moods.

Moods and clauses are not my strong point, I generally skip them when teaching.

Jibber Jabber

Utilised my holiday to write for 4 hours (felt quite proud of myself, don't know how much of it is any good). Also did my summer-winter wardrobe shift, which I had been dreading. When I reached late for gym, my coach said that he thought I would be keeping the Shivratri fast. yeah right:). Attended the Almost Island Udayan Vajeyi & Bei Dao reading at IIC. Udayan's poetry revolved around family and had a strong astronomical flavour- the Hindi original had a punch the English translation lacked.
Bei Dao's poetry was reflective, perhaps reflecting Chinese culture. I liked his images-like, the two brother hands of the clock made an acute angle.
Rushed home to watch Desperate Housewives, only to realise it's not a Sunday.

Useful Poem by Borges

You Learn
After a while you learn the subtle difference

Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,

And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning

And company doesn't mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts

And presents aren't promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats

With your head up and your eyes open

With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today

Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans

And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn...

That even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,

Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure...
That you really are strong
And you really do have worth...
And you learn and learn...
With every good-bye you learn.

Roundup

Confrontational talking helped

"Lunch's on me," she yelped.

Ackack

Jodha Akbarally's wrestled their way
Leads pumped full of lead Mandalay.

A pic

Bought Cilappatikaram yesterday- it has some lyrical descriptions- brows like Cupid's bow.

Tipping Point

I thought it dealt with epistemological breaks, a la Foucault, but I was pleased to discover it was more hands on. it cited an idea I had had, am waiting for more to emerge, as did post Why we buy.
Think Amrita Pritam is more palatable in the original.
Tumhari mein haari
Puttar?

Biblio

Bought Borges, Semler and Amrita Pritam at the World Book Fair. visited three halls. I liked the setup. Will return next week.

I write nothings about the same
Only because I know you came.

Mahon, Masc.

Derek Mahon’s rightfully one of the top 10 writers of today. The minute I saw him, I knew that he was someone special. Photographs are distant.
His poetry, specially the fresh ones he read from Goa, made me feel good inside- after a very long time.
As a translator too, he captures the flavour of the original very accurately.
An Irish poem on a game of cards played between a man and a woman with brows “like two strokes of a pen”, the skull shaped coconuts of Goa, the ceiling fan that went “round and round” brought freshness back to age old subjects.
I like the way he rhymes with sense, his poems are deceptively simple but pack a lot of thoughts and ideas.
I’m looking forward to his return, perhaps at the Jaipur Literary Festival, which may be where the Irish Literary Festival goes next.
“Never a day without a line.”

Love dovetailed crow blows
Night bowtied, daggered days wane
Still bleeds weeds kama gardens
Tears on drip trip trickle steam
Chug hug lunge to the loam
That you feed, house louse.

Space, the final frontier surrounds me
I warm in the air you breathe out, see
Blanks confront this shooter from the hip
My gaps fill with sonnet lumiere trips
As tastes ash, pink stinks, press flesheaters.

As this sun spreads red across an inked sky
Sets, defeated, that this time too, met not yours
Hides from my wrath, the night consoles
With mere manmares to snare my soul.

As I watch her flail my soul
I stop myself from running to
Catch her before she falls
She is outside me and the world’s now.

As we trail knowledge from opposite bends
I wonder whether Columbus’s world is round.

We share a sun, not sunny signs
The moon shows us her same side
Stars lit up equal hemispheres
Can I hopscotch on them to there?

As my soul unwraps itself daily
For thee to see what I be
I strip, unpeel to reach the core
When I know you are the shore.

As I fill my joint days
With aphim that is not you
I highjump over curdled hurdles
Only to fall in night’s moonsweats.

Whether I pause the world
Or myself
I see the same.
Whirlpool eyes that sucked me in
Where I circle, learning to swim.
Warring with oneself
Defeats the purposeful.

My thoughts tiptoe around you
Scared to breathe you in life
When they clatter, mind loses matter.

A day in the life of a tiger

is worth a thousand as a sheep.

Chinese proverb.

Open Baithak Biradari featuring Bob Holman

Bob's hyperactivity reminded me of Robin Williams, whom I like only in films. The Challenge was an innovative way to combine the regulars with the new- Bob would respond to each poet with one of his own. I enjoyed Badshah's poem on the tiger- how it returns to the sunset and curses us with an Ice Age.
Taught exchange rate in hindi-hope my student passes her boards. Some of what I teach is guesswork. Terrific strain on the brain.
Finally finished Zadie Smith's The Autograph Man- which I had bought at the last book fair. It had it's moments but I found it tough to read it for more than an hour at a time- which is unusual for me.
New coach at the gym is making me work out with a vengeance- feels good.
was also fun to meet a woman writer- Claire Kilroy with two others at the Irish Literary festival. Over red wine, I asked her whether she connected with women wroters differently. She agreed. Men write women incorrectly often, because they look at them differently.
I liked the reading of the children's book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas best. Think my attention span has not progressed much:) Another listener shared my sentiments, finding it the most readable. The Information Overload Age has had many side effects.
What struck me was that they write so much- 8 hours a day.
None of them read from what they had written on Ireland. The world writer now seems to be a reality.

The Hungry Spirit by Charles Handy

I had picked it up at the Walden sale but then ended up giving it away before I had time to read it. I read the first page online.
Coincidentally, it talks of how "In Africa, they say there are two hungers. The lesser and the greater. The lesser refers to food and sleep. The greater to the question Why?"
Titillation, often seen in art today, caters to the former. It was well treated by a Ruchika production I saw a couple of years ago, which I described and a team member agreed to, as being like a souffle. A frank discussion of family's different ways of coming to terms with their varying sexualities, it was funny without being heavy breathing.
Just laughed nonstop for a while, watching a friend chase two others around the lawn.:)
Look for the bear necessities
Mother Nature's recipes
Forget about your worries and your cares
The bare necessities of life will come to you.
Jungle Book.
Don't like the story I wrote any more much. But I had supreme fun writing it.

Penultimate weekend @ Theatre Utsav

Past is Stimulation was wistful, with a gauzy green backdrop, similar to the outfits the women wore. A scene involving partial nudity evoked gasps of shock from the audience.

I liked Nati Binodini. The humour, the action which resulted from having multiple actors play the lead, ensured the subject was deftly treated.

Charandas was as usual delighful. The lead was impressive, as was the music, dance and other actors.

Burqavaganza was awful. Pakistan artistes used the burqa to make digs at everything and everyone, but the humour was gross.

Stay yet Awhile was yet another docu-drama which had Gandhi and Tagore.

Am taking a break from the festival for a couple of days.

Tokenism

Hiring women is only the first step. If no man likes to take orders from a woman, think of her. She has to take orders from men all the time.

Sugar daddies help. But when they withdraw support, it's back to square one.

CEO support helps too. But when they withdraw, one is once more alone.

New broom swept clean all the men I disliked. They shared a lack of commitment.

The one I did like, for his sheer engrossment in his work, is a blue eyed boy now.

Glass barriers are ones we constantly bump into, for no man really thinks a woman is more intelligent than him, can do his work better than him, or will eventually rule him.

New broom was manufactured in the same factory, so is also suave, polished, stiff upper lip.

Boring.

If wax dummies were any good, mannequins would make us move.

Breaks only underscore that nothing's changed.

Am sure that still, when Any Questions? time comes, no one opens their mouth.

Fancy flights

There is something about the womb of an airplane, the tribal attendants, the atmosphere which lets us enjoy soaring, staring as sun yolks trickle through blues.

Psyche derelict

I remember explaining Peter Pan's psychedelic pickup to my friends. Thankfully, Junior is not a fan of "pretty pictures."

Consumer citizen activism

Electronic goods crimes are on the rise.

As service declines, branding spends rise, consumers are brands.

They are striking back at the hands which fed them phones which do not work, shares that are not given in time, policies which are sold by omission.

Power is corrupting them absolutely.

They are organising themselves on an impromptu basis, taking advantage of the very loopholes used to exploit them- a sluggish executive.

Organisations still look at the low cost of angering consumers as inferior to trapping ignorant ones.

As the information asymetry sets itself right, will organisations reform?

Doubtful.

They still think youth will be disillusioned.

They do not realise that as youth gets the results it wants, by acting, it will see less and less reason to behave.

If organisations are run by the cognitively old, who want to cater to the young, using young media, icons, imagery-how will it's consumers be satisfied?

न किया तुने यह क्या किया?

Connecting people.

We call this

humane तेच्नोलोग

जी

That's not my compartment

Doesn't work. It's still your train of thoughts.

Having tried compartmentalisation, I can say it did not work then. The first six months of bschool, I ignored my grad identity, my College friends, my passions.

I got burnt out.

Integration too did not work. It led to heartbreak, recalling the inertia which had propelled me elsewhere, nostalgia.

A new identity, belonging to a new community, creating new events, newsletters, friends.

Now that helped. And is repeatedly working.

As I view another burnt out case reviving himself, clamped down memories, relationships I hope and pray for peace.

Nom de plume's dropped as the peacock unfurls.

कसम शायरी कि

और शायर कि भी।

From The Birthday Letters

from The Rag Rug

Somebody had made one. You admired it.

So you began to make your rag rug.

You needed to do it. Played on by lightnings

You needed an earth. Maybe. Or needed

To pull something out of yourself-

Some tapeworm of the psyche. I was simply

Happy to watch your scissors being fearless...

Whenever you worked at your carpet I felt happy.

Then I could read Conrad's novels to you.

I could cradle your freed mind in my voice,

Chapter by chapter, sentence by sentence,

Word by word: "Heart of Darkness,"...

I dreamed of our house

Before we ever found it. A great snake

Lifted its head from a well in the middle of the house

Exactly where the well is, beneath its slab,

In the middle of the house.

A golden serpent, thick as a child's body,

Eased from the opened well. And poured out

Through the back door, a length that seemed unending-...