About *-*
About those aforementioned, or afourmentioned, books that I have recently reviewed, the fourth was Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture. The current issue of Tehelka carries my review. Comments welcome. more...death ends fun | 05 Jul 2008
Not where, but why
One more book review, of Timeri Murari's Limping To The Centre Of The World: A Journey To Mount Kailas. It appeared in DNA (Sunday June 22). Comments welcome.The final review (of an aforementioned fou more...death ends fun | 05 Jul 2008
Shape of the beast
Another of the aforementioned four books that suddenly came my way to review was The Shape of the Beast: Conversations with Arundhati Roy, a compilation of interviews of Roy by various people. Here's more...death ends fun | 04 Jul 2008
More than three seconds
"Realpolitik" pronouncement that sounds weighty until you think about it more than three seconds (one of plenty-four): "India can’t improve the lot of its citizens unless it holds its own against th more...death ends fun | 04 Jul 2008
On Mohammad Hanif's A Case of Exploding Mangoes
A shorter version of this piece appeared last weekend in the Sunday Telegraph.Whenever someone famous dies in mysterious circumstances, conspiracy theories proliferate; meanings rush in to fill the vo more...The Middle Stage | 02 Jul 2008
The female fanatic
While I take something of a break from posting here ... I should catch up with some book reviews. In the last month or so, all of a sudden I've had four books to review. The third to see print is my r more...death ends fun | 30 Jun 2008
I'm attending the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit in Budapest, Hungary
One minute, was doing up my nest,Very next, I was off to Budapest!I am part of (and proud),Of the Global Voices crowd,And this Summit is surely the best!We have been away for a long time, but b more...Newsmericks | 28 Jun 2008
Stones run out
Hypothetical situation before I attempt a break from this space: You are part of a community that lives on an isolated mountaintop. When your ancestors got to the mountaintop, they found a particular more...death ends fun | 25 Jun 2008
On rats
This passage has been discussed before and no doubt will be again, but never mind."In 1849, hungry gold miners crossing the Nevada desert noticed some glistening balls of a candy-like substance on a c more...death ends fun | 24 Jun 2008
Anjum Hasan and the Indian Shakespeare
This essay appeared earlier this month in the literary magazine Pratilipi. I linked to it then, so if you have already read it you might want to scroll down to my list of links to great essays on Shak more...The Middle Stage | 23 Jun 2008
Disabling
And here's Natalia Bykova, female bodyguard in Russia who "carries a Makharov pistol", quoted in the Times of India, July 22 2003:"There are many simple but very effective ways of disabling someone. M more...death ends fun | 21 Jun 2008
Losing Kei by Suzanna Kamata and Flight of the Dragonfly by Melissa Hawach
CATEGORY: Fiction PAGES: 196 PRICE: $14.95 / Paperback OriginalPub Date: January 2008 This month I find myself reading two books with a similar theme - not by design, just mere coinciden more...Lotus Reads | 21 Jun 2008
Cricket on speed
I actually wrote this essay nearly two months ago. It went on air only yesterday. One of the points it makes is about the so-called coming of market forces to cricket. I'm hardly glad to note that not more...death ends fun | 20 Jun 2008
Creative Photography 101
Exercise for the day:1) Visit this page. 2) Gaze at the picture that comes up when the page comes up -- or if the picture changes, click on "1" to bring it back. Gaze some more.Question: from where, e more...death ends fun | 19 Jun 2008
Cinema bombers
Ramesh Gadkari and Mangesh Nikam were arrested yesterday on charges of planting bombs in a cinema theatre and two city auditoriums. The report in the Hindustan Times today (June 17) has this headline: more...death ends fun | 17 Jun 2008
On Vaclav Havel's To The Castle and Back
A shorter version of this piece appeared last weekend in the Scotland on Sunday. [Updated June 22]In one of a series of grand revolutions that swept over Europe in 1989, the Czech playwright Václav H more...The Middle Stage | 16 Jun 2008
What someone saw
"I started to look at A in a more sustained way. What I saw repelled me. On all sides, positions were hardening. Those who supported X sneered at those who opposed it. Each side demonized the other. S more...death ends fun | 12 Jun 2008
On Steve Coll's The Bin Ladens
Since the day nineteen hijackers owing allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the name “Bin Laden” has reverberate more...The Middle Stage | 09 Jun 2008
The need to be courted
I keep meaning to post here some of my father, J.B. D'Souza's, writing. I keep getting distracted. So before I get distracted again, here's something he wrote for a souvenir issued by BEST in 1997, to more...death ends fun | 08 Jun 2008
