Arbit Scratchpad

Read the poem: An empty canvas that itself fills

On Friday 16 th Mar, met up with AmrutK who was back from the US after some fifteen months or so. Along with him, ChandanB and AshvinM we met at The Forum. Was a short meet, with the roads around Bannerghatta Road showing all its might to the poor Amrut (ask him how severely his riding skills were tested). Next day, Saturday 17 th Mar, met up with the Air Force School, Hebbal junta at the Cafe Coffee Day, Cunningham Road. This was after nearly eleven years, I cannot believe myself, ELEVEN years! NitinP, RajeevK, GovindM, ShambhaviR and me. It was one of the most memorable evenings in a long long time. Memories, jokes, incidents and much more came tumbling out in a burst of laughter and animated talk. Most are still the same – Nitin is as sincere and friendly as ever, with an amazingly sharp memory, Rajeev the straightforward, 'speak-your-mind' type guy with flashes of brilliance, Govind the reclusive ever-smiling genius, Shambhavi, the slightly subdued or is it matured lad...

Played Holi after a long time. Though I had an aversion to playing it, the first breach was at office when colleagues in the same floor 'attacked', and multiple times. And that was the day before the actual festival (3rd March 2007). Next day four of us RickB, ShaonC, ManiM and me played like crazy - buckets of coloured water, wet colours, and loads of fun ;) May such festivals always bring us together and spread the love and cheer in an otherwise, often monotonous, routine life. Cannot end without philosophy, so here goes: Everything has a significance ...

Another very short story (PDF) . Feedback welcome ...

A tale of genetic engineering gone awry, never read a book with a narrative that is so fast paced. It sets your pulse on boosters from the very word 'go'. Human foolishness, greed and malice as always creates a very complex situation with transgenic animals (specifically a parrot and an ape with human properties in the book) becoming victims or perpetrators of violence in a society that is not yet ready for them. Legal battles over who owns the cells which are patented for certain features and the absurd tendency by geneticists to define specific genes to explain any and every human trait from maturity to blond hair, is depicted as becoming the order of the day. Then there are moves for funding and counter-moves by organizations, long chases, legal battles, private investigators and families getting involved in a confusion galore. A book that has a well annotated 'List of References' however except for a few good insights and the endnote on the legal consequences and is...

Amitav Ghosh is a fabulous writer, who's polished and beautiful prose inspires. His last book 'The Glass Palace' was one great book weaving the history of Burma, India, the World War II with fiction to concoct a very well-researched tale. In 'The Hungry Tide' he gets better. It is the best book of his till date ('The Shadow Lines' for its inter-continental tale and 'Calcutta Chromosome' for its sheer novelty come second and third in my list). 'The Hungry Tide' is set in the tide country of the Sundarbans with its mangrove forests and Royal Bengal tigers, enough to send a thrill of anticipation up your spine. The book is fast-paced and mysterious, as well as mellow and langurous, simultaneously. Starting off with the travails of a lady researcher (Piya) in dolphins and marine mammals (cetologist) from the US, the tale courses through the upheavals in the life of a social worker (Nilima) and her husband (Nirmal), along with their nephew - a tr...

Had been to this concert at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall last Saturday - Zakir Hussain, Taufiq Qureshi, and Niladri Kumar. Superlative performance by each of them. It started with a prelude by manipuri drummers and was followed by a solo performance for about 40 mins by Zakir himself - amazing range - ranging from slowest and low freq to high speed - he played the tabla like a storm. Niladri Kumar then joined him on the sitar - he is an amazing performer for his age - very young guy. Then Taufiq joined in - he plays percussion instruments and other drums etc (like Sivamani). Also he did some amusing things just using his mouth and his hands - aural tones and beats ... Then they were followed by four Manipuri drummers who did synchronized acrobatic dances. Towards the end all of them played out, together. The jokes and humour peppered show (especially quips by Zakir) was my first classical concert proper - thanks to RickB. It ended with auctioning of Shahrukh Khan's jacket which some for...