yet again ... getting lost ... then enjoying self-discovery ...

Title: A Case of Indian Marvels - Dazzling Stories From the Country’s Finest New Writers Editor: David Davidar Publisher: Aleph First Published: 2022 ISBN: 978-93-91047-64-1 Pages: 390 Price: 999/- Thanks are due to Aleph and Purple Pencil Project.  The editor was “ surprised by the lack of anthologies that focused exclusively on the work of writers belonging to the millennial generation ” and we are glad that he felt this way. We have these forty stories put together. The authors have been described as India’s “ finest ” and “ most exciting ” new writers. The list also includes well known names like Meena Kandasamy and Prayaag Akbar. The editor is “ frustrated by lack of quality translations ’”. However, he has managed to include five of them - A J Thomas and Rita Kothari are amongst the translators. These stories present voices of today’s India – perspectives of the youth. An India that is unjust but at the same time “ will not dance ” to someone else’s tunes. A generation that ...

Utpal Dutt On the Theatre Publisher: Seagull Books, Calcutta Printing Years: 2009, 2022 ISBN: 978-8-1-7046-251-4 Price: 499/- Pages: 201 As I read the book I recalled watching him as Dhurandhar Bhatawdekar – a few years ago,  Few questions also came up, How well read was he? How the hell did he manage to recall so much! How did he see where we were headed? Was he that ahead of his times?  How could he have been such direct, frank and yet so popular? How broad and deep was his repertoire? But then he was at best an enigma - someone who worked closely with Ghose, Sen and Ray, was a Shakespeare scholar, and yet known to many of his generation for his roles as a 'comedian' in Hindi cinema! Dhurandhar Bhatawdekar was just one of the many such roles.  Some lines from the book – that have stayed, On Shakespeare Urdu alone, of all Indian languages, can capture fully the sound-quality of Shakespeare’s verse. The decline of interest in Shakespeare in our times has been brought ab...

Where the Buddha gave his first sermon . . . . .  Last week I returned from Sarnath hassled – a frame of mind I do not associate with the place. Roads have been dug up and blocked. Drains are being constructed and vendors have been shifted. Select monuments including the Mulagandha Kuti Vihara are under restoration. It is a Sarnath taken over by dust, noise and chaos. Increased tourist numbers ( spill over of the record spike in number of people visiting Banaras ) further exacerbate the situation. Image Credit: Pawandeep Kaur I am unclear whether this is being done under the Smart City project or for the upcoming G20 meetings in town or for another reason. I sadly wonder though how long it would be before I resumed my trips to Sarnath! Notwithstanding the current scenario the peace and calm associated with Sarnath have been eroding over the years. Not much unlike the names previously used for the place, names that seem to have disappeared: Rishipatana, Mrigadava and Mrigadaya....

Walking Education Campuses Nimesh Ved and Sanjay Dwivedi Published at The Hindu Education Plus . We thank the team there.  We also thank Pawandeep Kaur for the image.    Learning during the schooling years warrants moving beyond the conventional classroom set-up as well. This is all the more crucial in a society like ours that seldom invest time and thought towards expanding the child’s horizons. Exposure visits can help meet this need. They enable learning in a non-formal and fun-filled environment. Multi-day trips to mountainous and forested landscapes are, of course, a wonderful option. Financial and logistical challenges however ensure that these trips are out of bounds for majority of our schools. Many schools are then left with the option of going out, with children, for some hours in and around their towns and cities. Some schools visit spaces like museums and events like book-fairs . A few also venture to the banks and factories. One option we have e...

Inked in India - Fountain Pens and a Story of Make and Unmake Authors: Bibek Debroy with Sovan Roy Year of publication: 2022 ISBN: 978-93-552-0564-3 Publisher: Rupa Publications India Pvt Ltd Price: 595/- Number of pages: 190 The first-ever documentation of all known fountain pen, nib and ink manufacturers in the country, Inked in India will be of great interest to the fountain pen aficionados and economic enthusiasts alike. In the early 1900s, a Bengali doctor created the first Indian fountain pen in Varanasi. Despite this early start, foreign-made pens dominate the Indian market, with no notable Indian brand available to customers. Published at the Deccan Herald . Thanks to the team there. And of course the Fountain Pen makers for the sheer joy in writing that they provide.  The Fount of Imagination Inked in India presents the story of the Indian  presents the story of the Indian fountain pen - from the first pen made to the recent tax rate applicable on the pens. This jour...

First, the gardens The Botanical Garden was a pleasant surprise! Beauty of an unkempt garden? or that of the late morning winter sun? or of a path less taken? Jug Suraiya had once written about how a major role of the branches of State Bank of India was to serve as landmark for addresses - to help people reach their destinations. On similar lines trees help those in love? An Indian addressed as Sir and his name placed above that of a European. Not common this! Just outside the gate of the Shrubbery Nightingale Park - amidst the hill trees!  Now, to the museums Museums are ever fascinating. This one of the DarjeelingHill Railway was not an exception. It also had a sketch of Mark Twain when he took the journey during 1897. Tibetan museum at Dharamshala was stark. The museum at Darjeeling too was nicely done. Cultural maps of areas around ours often reminds how little we know about our neighbours! How long before this moves from the road to the museum? Finally, the cemeteries...

Darjeeling has a fairly high number of buildings that ooze grace. Many of these had windows that were special.  On some of the walks I wondered if the windows too were  looking at me?   A house of windows? Did someone replace the walls with windows? The Deshbandhu Museum on the Bhutia Basti route. Walls of this graceful building are home to windows of different shapes and sizes. What to say of a town where the Post Office exudes such beauty! Is the afternoon light trying to peep in through the windows? This, somewhere on the road to the Japanese Temple. A solitary and lonely window high up from the ground! The Union Church on the Gandhi Road. Windows about to be strangled? The Hill Cart Road has surprises on offer when the traffic allows one to languorously walk and look around. A chimney and an electricity pole waiting for the windows to open? On a road with an intriguing name - Toong Soong. Windows in the dark!  These sit in silence atop a bustling street - n...

Walking up and down the roads and lanes of Darjeeling was a pleasure.  Every now and then I would come across a bench that I would sit on. Here I would enjoy the views, savour the bakery products I carried or just sit - happily lost in thoughts. Benches with a view at the Shrubbery Park. Part of Mr. Tartan's private bungalow it was purchased by the then ruler of Cooch Behar who coined the name - Shrubbery. Sometime hence it was then transferred to Raj Bhavan. During the recent years the Hill Council has turned it into a tourist destination. Even the parks here drip with history! This somewhere on the Zakir Hussain Road. For some reason I felt glad it was there. At the Alubari Monastery These benches offered views of the hills, peace of the monastery and songs of the flags. On the road to the Peace Pagoda . What an idea this! Benches along the road. A bench on rails at Ghum . The station - for some reason - had a stall selling Banarasi Paan. Multicoloured benches on the approach pat...

Moving beyond comfort zones Nimesh Ved, Arti Pandey and Anshumalika Rai Thanks are due to Teacher Plus . Published in their January 2023 issue.  Beginning Our journey began with a few conversations on the need to bring gender and sexuality on the discussion table in our school. Located in a peri-urban setting in north India, our Hindi medium school caters to lower income group families. During the initial days we agreed on certain basics: It may not be easy to sell the concept to colleagues – yet it is crucial to get them on board. Given that none of us had swum in the proverbial waters – we would not only need to get more familiar with the subject but also converse frequently amidst ourselves. Sporadic visits by experts would not help – we would need to take the plunge ourselves. We were taking a gamble – the chances of failure were not low. Ourselves During the initial days, we realized that the three of us need to give our time, move beyond our comfort zones, and cross a few bar...

Aligarh sits in western Uttar Pradesh - about 50 kms away from Firozabad ( associated with bangles ) and roughly same distance from Hathras ( famous for its hing ). Agra is roughly 100 kms further and Delhi 150.  The first quick impression of the town is that it retains a distinct character. As one moves one comes across the bustling, cramped and noisy lanes of the market area and a very different 'Civil Lines' part of the town. Like Banaras this is a town which takes its food seriously. Aligarh, of course, seems to have more options on offer. And, like Banaras, Aligarh is also on way to becoming a 'smart' city.  The windows here have a special feel! Walking the market area was fun. We came across ' Gajak ' being made - with help of large wooden hammers, a sweet by the name of ' Makhan Santra ', ground-nut being sold as ' Gujarati Singh ' and a lot more - including (very reasonably priced ) pottery from Khurja -  that fascinated. People too were ...