I am a very shy man. I went in and came out of my TED talk a little uncomfortable. I am not a speaker, but if I do, I use the platform to hear words from myself that I have not heard before. I like to surprise myself and see if I can get in [...]
The economics of consumerism
I always wondered the logic of President Obama's economic stimulus package. It was based on restoring confidence. And confidence (whether Obama meant that or not) is measured by the people consuming more. Every Christmas, for example, the economy is measured by the amount people spend in stores. And this is becoming a measure of economic [...]
The Spinning Coin
spin a coin and make every decision. heads I do, and tails I do not, hold the coin and let destiny decide but did the coin really stop spinning ? a trillion, trillion coins spinning while I ponder has the decision already made itself ? while my mind pondered
The man who stood with the tree
He came one day and settled under the Banyan tree that grew in the garden of my building but branched carelessly into the street. Clad in saffron clothes as many wandering holy men do in India. Nothing special except if you looked carefully, his legs were unimaginably swollen as if he carried the weight of [...]
love and madness
How could you be in love without being love itself ? How could you be a devotee without being devotion itself ? You, that measure my madness standing as you are on an illusory ground of high morality How can you know my madness till you become mad with me ?
MF Hussein again
After I criticized Shree Shree Ravi Shankar's remarks on MF Hussein, I was perhaps not surprised by the how many aggressive responses I got back. What confused me though is many people responded with the painting being both anti Hindu and anti Nationalist. Are are they now the same thing for many people ? I [...]
IPL cricket – an adverse colonial point of view. Sour grapes?
We all constantly debate on whether IPL is real cricket, or will it destroy the cricket that we all grew up on. But one fact is indisputable. It has changed the financial structure of cricket into a major international sporting tournament, that will in time compete with football. And it is very very entertaining. So [...]
Shree Shree Ravi Shankar & MF Hussein
Now Shree Shree Ravi Shankar has got into the act condemning Hussein's paintings of Indian Goddesses in the nude. I did not say naked. There is a difference. Nude implies a point of view of the artist, and having seen the paintings I would definitely say that that the artists, in exploring the Goddesses as [...]
Rhino’s and Tigers being farmed in China
I am conflicted. I was horrified to read in the press today that Rhino's and Tigers are being farmed for assumed medicinal properties of the Rhino's horns and many other unmentionable parts of the Tiger. My learning on wild life and ecology, the extinction of species bothered me. But the question that came was, why [...]
Hurt Locker and a Prophet
I guess my impressions of Hurt Locker was colored by the brilliant 'A Prophet' I saw the same day. Was Hurt Locker good ? Of course it was. It was well shot, modern and created a lot of tension in the four (or is it five) sequences that the film is built up of. Was [...]