Whazzup Mumbai !!! (Bombay)

Trishna, Andheri, Mumbai

2009-01-17T20:43:00.001+05:30

Trishna

I had eaten the signature Butter Pepper Garlic Crab at Trishna in Fort a couple of years ago and still remember fondly, the perfect balance of sweet crab flesh mingled with the saltiness of Amul Butter and the bite of freshly crushed peppercorns. But I much preferred the overall taste of food at Gajalee not to mention the proximity.

On my most recent trip to Bombay I saw that Trishna had opened a branch in Andheri too. We were tired and exhausted from our traveling, but decided to stop in here and savour the food.

Read my review here

Disjointed Questions on the Bombay Blasts and its aftermath

2008-11-28T23:08:00.000+05:30

Being in a distant country while Bombay is under siege, is nerve wracking at best.

My first long stay in Bombay was for my first job, with MBA degree in hand. The first weekend trip we took together as Management trainees was a local train ride from Andheri to South Bombay. We caught up with other batchmates in town for a movie at Metro Cinema and headed over to Cafe Mondegar for a drink and later carried onto Cafe Leopold because we had heard so much about these Bombay favourites. We then walked over to the Gateway of India and gazed at the iconic Taj Palace and towers. Gathering courage we felt we could project enough confidence to walk in and use their washrooms, which we managed.

Since this was the late 90's, B-School salaries weren't as astronomical as they were at the turn of the millennium and we obviously couldn't afford to eat in there, so we headed over to Bademiyan's for more affordable fare.

All these locations were under the media spotlight for the last 48 hours, for reasons one would never have dreamed about.

Personally, this attack was very hard hitting because of the sheer numbers of family and friends who live in the area, who were working late in the area, or were eating in the area after work. As is usual after every such attack in India, we started calling and smsing, then emailing and scrapping (when the phone lines were jammed and over loaded) and everyone we knew in the location to check on their status. This time it was a much, much longer list of people we were checking on.

Some were barricaded inside their houses and offices in the area while their lifts were shut down and they were advised not to leave the premises. Many spent that first night in the office while the rest of us helplessly spent the night hoping and praying for their safety and that the violence wouldn't spread to the surrounding buildings.

We stayed glued to the television and kept refreshing news sites on our computer screen and anxiously followed the sequence of events. Coherent thought was not easy and plenty of questions and inconsistencies kept popping up in my mind.

First of all: kudos to our NSG, army, hotel staff and police for their heroic efforts.

Why/How did this happen:
Intelligence failure is something the foreign media has been harping about in relation to these attacks, but as someone else mentioned: weren't 9/11 and the London Subway attacks, intelligence failures too.

Could we have done anything more to secure the locations?
How many locations will you secure? We have a country of a billion+ citizens, so I don't think it is about securing locations. Terrorists target any and every location. The only way every place can be secured is if citizens take responsibility of being aware of their surroundings and people around them.
We need to stop cribbing about and finding innovative ways to avoid security measures at malls, cinema halls etc. They are there for our security.

Our government should focus on stemming the problem at its roots: training camps, poverty, education, unemployment.

The terrorists were armed with AK47's while a lot of the police and railway police were equipped with nothing more than a lathi. Do they even stand a chance?

Why were 3 top cops traveling in the same vehicle?

Rescue efforts:
The staff at the hotels responded admirably and heroically. Some even lost their own lives while saving the guests. I am not sure if they receive training drills for terrorist situations, but they did their best.

Politicians have no business being anywhere in the area when such situations are ongoing. Having them around, means that security and armed forces are forced to divert their attention to the "security of the politician"
What business did Gopinath Munde have to be at the Nariman House today?
Same problem when they visit hospitals were the wounded are taken. Doctors and nurses are forced to stop tending to their patients and clear the area so the politician and their entourage of news crews and security personnel royally stroll through the area and promise tax payer funds (other peoples money) as remuneration.

Media:
While NDTV was the most restrained of the lot, our media still behaved as irresponsibly as always.

People whose family members were stuck inside, is it fair to thrust microphones at their faces and ask them how they are feeling?

Rescued people being brought out of the hotel after a horrifying ordeal, is it fair to thrust microphones at their faces and ask them how they are feeling?

While Right to Information is a wonderful act, some lines should be drawn when it comes to National Security. Broadcasting the immediate moves of the security forces, dissecting their rescue maneuvers, having ex army personnel describe helicopter rescue operations in detail - this only gives more intelligence to the terrorists holed up inside who could be in contact with anyone with a cable connection outside the location, even if cable connection at the hotels had been cut off.

Broadcasting false reports of the operation being over when it isn't because they see a thumbs-up being exchanged between two NSG personnel.

We need an appointed official spokesperson who is the only authority allowed to speak to the media when an operation is ongoing. This person needs to receive reports from all relevant sources and be advised on what news can be released and what cannot. Press should only be allowed at this location and not crawling around the affected area causing more security hazards or getting caught in the cross fire. This should give controlled information and hopefully control the rumour-mongering too.

If the press are controlled in one location, it will also prevent the crowds who were at the locations today not to show solidarity or out of concern but were there for the sole reason of getting their face on camera. (This is a reality in India)

Role of Politicians:
They haven't done anything to prevent the situation, they should stay away from the situation as mentioned above.

Where has the champion of Bombay, Mr Raj Thackeray disappeared to? Which safe location is he hiding in?

Our Home Minister was ineffectual as always. Surprisingly, our Prime Ministers speech didn't induce confidence either.

Politicians need to rise above their petty politics of deciding whether to hold a bundh on December 1st or not.
They should instead be visiting the homes of the brave security personnel who lost their lives and appreciating the efforts of their husbands, sons and fathers (not to be sexist, but no female personnel casualty has been reported yet in this case) who lost their lives in the service of the country. This is one of the few useful things that they can do at this point of time.

I also pray that they do not use this attack to further communalize our country for their own vote bank politics.

Future Action:
It may seem insensitive to say this at this point, but as a country we should take advantage of the terrorists targeting Americans, British and Israeli citizens.
The US previously tried to restrain India when they spoke about retaliation after the parliament attacks.
This is the right opportunity to use this joint sentiment against these terrorists to take a stand and launch a forceful offensive against terrorist camps targeting India.
Use the Israeli intelligence and their expertise to stem the flow of terrorists into India and destroy their their training camps.
We need a single security network that is pan-country, not disjointed co-ordination between multiple agencies.

We need to make our country safe again. Where people do not flinch at a loud sound, where people do not have to think twice before leaving their houses to catch a train, shop for groceries or watch a movie. We need to feel safe. It is our right as citizens.

Published on desicritics.org

Terrible Service from Meru Cabs

2008-09-06T06:00:00.002+05:30

A friend of mine recommended me to try Meru Cabs the next time I was in Mumbai.

His office uses them regularly and he found them to be good and cleaner than regular taxis and found their prices better than the airconditioned blue & white taxis.

Since I had to make a sudden trip down, I decided to use their web booking system 2 days in advance to pick me up from the International Airport and drop me to the place I was staying in Bombay.

They asked for the following details online:
Name :
Pick up Address :
Pick up Landmark :
Destination Area :
Contact No. :
Your Email id :

After filling all of that, I received this mail from them after an hour
Dear Customer,

We refer to your booking request dated 27th July 2008

We regret to inform you that we accept bookings only 24 hrs in advance , hence we request you to contact our Customer Care Center at 022 44224422 at least 60minutes prior to your pickup schedule and confirm if we have any free cabs in the nearby vicinity to serve your request.

We appreciate your cooperation.

Thank you for showing interest in Meru

Regards,
Customer Care Executive
Meru

This made sense, so I tried again the next day before heading to the airport, to catch my flight to Bombay.

I received another polite mail saying that they did not have allotted parking space at the International terminal and hence could not guarantee a pick up.

Ok, this too was understandable. So I made my way to my temporary residence in Bombay-Bandra using a regular taxi service from the airport.

The next day I had to catch a domestic flight, so I gave them a call 14 hours in advance to book a cab from Bandra to the Domestic Airport. (this was 5pm the previous day)

I was told that because of the weather, they could not confirm bookings this early, but if I called one hour before I needed to leave (which was 8am) I would definitely get a booking. I did not fancy navigating up asteep slope with my heavy luggage to find a regular taxi in the morning and I told the call center guy that. But he said, "Maam 99% you will be able to get a cab if you call at 7am, but I cannot take a booking right now"

I checked again at 10pm before going to sleep (international flight the previous night caused sleep deprivation that had to be made up) if I could book a cab and was again told to call an hour before I needed to leave.

The next morning I woke up early, because I could not sleep with this end being lose. At 5am (2 hours before the recommended time), I called to book a taxi to pick me up at 8am and was told "I'm sorry, but all our taxis are booked, we cannot give you a booking

In some ad of theirs, I read that they had more than 2000 taxis operating in Bombay. They weren't accepting bookings at night, but yet at 5am in the morning, they said they did not have any cabs available.

I asked the lady what the possibility of being able to book a cab one hour later would be and she said "We don't have any cabs free till 4pm".

While I can understand that some things are unpredictable and uncontrollable, why give false promises?

The whole ordeal just left a very bad taste in my mouth and I doubt I will ever use their service again.

Jhama Sweets, Chembur

2008-08-29T23:33:00.001+05:30

Jhama is an extremely popular sweet shop in Chembur in Mumbai.

I have an uncle who lives nearby who never fails to pick up a box of their sweets for us when he visits. So I have tried their kaju kathri and various other sweets, whose names I don't even know and found them outstanding!

Read my Entire Review on my Restaurant Review Blog

1298 ambulance Service in Mumbai

2008-08-25T15:03:00.002+05:30

Prithvi Theatre Cafe, Juhu

2008-08-24T19:05:00.001+05:30

This Cafe was one of my favorites in Mumbai. Yes, you read it right, it "WAS".

Close to my house, this was where me and my husband often sat discussing the play we were going to watch over a cup of coffee and light snacks like cheese balls or dissecting and analysing the play we had just watched over raan and Prithvi's famous irish coffee :)

Doubt I will visit the cafe again, unless something changes drastically and they can match the standards of the previous avataar.

Read my entire review on Restaurant Review Blog

Oasis, Chembur

2008-08-24T18:44:00.001+05:30

The ambience was really nice, inspite of the loud kitty party like dinner going on on the premises. (in one of the other rooms)

The food was the star. Being back in India after ages, I had decided I would only drink and eat Indian specialities. In keeping with that, I ordered a masaledaar chaas (70) and asked them to add some finely chopped chillies to the drink. The drink was outstandingly flavored and balanced and the chillies were chopped so fine, that they did not catch in your teeth (they were chopped not pureed)

Read the rest of my review on my Restaurant Review Blog

Patio, Gajalee

2008-08-24T17:34:00.000+05:30

I have always been a huge fan of Gajalee in Mumbai for sea food. I fing their sea food better than Mahesh Lunch home or Trishna. (although Trishna's butter pepper garlic crab topples the scales completely)

My husband too loves the food at Gajalee. There was one branch very close to his office in Vile Parle and most office meetings invariably took place there. The days I couldn't send him lunch, he would order in from there. Its a wonder I haven't reviewed this place before, given how often we have eaten there.

Our standard order used to be a starter of solkadi (drink made of kokum - red berry- garlic and coconut milk which is an excellent appetiser, digestive and accompaniment to the food) and King fish fry (a large slice of king fish/eeson - batter fried and served with an amazing spicy green chutney which definitely has green mango in it for sourness)

Read my entire review here

Of Aunties and All That :The Rise and Fall of a Bombay Goan Era

2008-05-13T04:41:00.001+05:30

Roland Francis
roland.francis@gmail.com

If Bombay in its post-Raj era had been a relic of British rule in India, growing up in the city, we knew nothing of it, or maybe just didn't care. To us youthful Goans, it was a place where our parents had emigrated to and where we were born.

Correctly said, we didn't even call ourselves Goans. We were labeled makapaos, just as there were labels for everybody else. The Parsis were called bawas, the Sindhis papads, the Maharashtrians ghatis, the Gujaratis gujjus, the Sikhs surds and the Anglos payday kings.

If Byculla, Mazagon, Colaba, Girgaum, Mahim, Bandra, Chembur, Malad and Borivali were Goan kingdoms, then Dhobitalao was surely the capital of them all. It was the fountainhead of the Goan in Bombay and the place where no matter where you lived, you always knew someone there.

So it was no surprise what happened when Morarji Desai of 'pisskey' fame (he banned whiskey but believed in 'auto-urine therapy') decided in his Gujarati bania wisdom that the Bombayite needed to abstain from liquor. It was in Dhobitalao that the legend of the Goan Aunty was born.

Dhobitalao was the area which had the most Goans per square inch. Perhaps historian Dr. Teresa Albuquerque -- the sister of editor Frank Moraes, and aunt of Dom Moraes -- may explain why, but it could have been due to the kudds or village clubs locating there.
It was the Goan heartbeat with the Sonapur lane its aorta.

Though mainly lower-class Goan in population, it was a vibrant neighborhood comparable to a bustling village church area on a Sunday morning.

If you were an uncharitable traveler, you may have compared it to Warsaw's Jewish ghetto. There were the similar winding streets and narrow lanes we called gullies. Hardly any dead ends and, if you knew the place well, even a battalion-sized force could not encircle you.

So, Dhobitalao became the Goan Aunty's liquor heartland.
A place where any drunken Goan's wife could at last find the solution to her financial woes. Don't forget that although Bombay's Goan community was solid burgher in it's work ethic -- with more than it's share of educators, doctors, lawyers, high ranking police and army officers who made their name throughout the country -- these elite Goans formed the fringes who lived mostly in places I have described above, outside of Dhobitalao.

The core was the underclass of barely educated and underemployed Goan labour, a goodly chunk of which lived in Dhobitalao. Of this, quite a few did nothing more in life than hit the bottle and consequently their families suffered. Whether it was the frustrations of a city or the longing for their native Goan village, it was difficult to tell.

Not only the Goan community, but the rest of Bombay took their Goan Aunties to heart. Bombay was a bon vivant place then. The music scene, the advertising crowd, the business community, the religious groups -- all had the need of a tipple when the occasion arose. And such occasions were many.
Give a man the freedom of a bottle and he may choose to ignore it. Take the choice away from him and he will spare no effort to drink when he can.

It started out with a few Aunties allotting a small room in their house to known musicians and fellow village seafarers living in nearby kudds, to sit, have a few drinks and thereby earn a little income. The moonshine was bought from East Indian Christians living in the suburbs, who distilled it in their large backyards mostly in Bandra and Borivali and transported it to the city in rubber packs. The kind you fill with hot water and use as a compress on your aching back.

Overripe fruit was used as the ingredient and the resultant distillate had a rather palatable flavor, while giving you the necessary high. Few Goan musicians could blow or play without this nectar and few Goan college professors could unwind without it.

The police took a rather benign view of the whole thing in the beginning. Police stations were headed by Anglo Indians, Parsis and Jews. It was not unusual for, say Inspector Mistry, to caution an enthusiastic aunty that she should tone down her operations to no more than a few bottles, enough to care for her family with as less disturbance to the neighbors as possible.

However as Aunty's services to the thirsting Bombayman spread beyond the original confines, the Aunty, like any good corporation, expanded her market share. Except that beyond word of mouth, she had no need of any marketing.

Liquor needs went beyond what amateur operations could supply and the channels expanded to South Indians operating giant vats in the marshes and vast hutments of Dharavi, Asia's biggest slum. Using, at times, groups of lepers to carry the booze to avoid police searches.

They used battery-grade sulphates commonly called battery powder to distill it faster, and spoiled rice and sugarcane molasses instead of overripe fruits. Police saw an opportunity of their own, in this expansion process. They made fortunes from extorting the Aunties and their suppliers, though extortion might be the wrong word here. It was all a peaceful business process. The cops got a feel of Aunty's turnover and put a proportionate 'toll' on it.

Business was good for everyone -- the Aunties, the cops and the consumers. A win-win situation as we call it today.

Village socials, dances and weddings were no longer the muted occasions they became when Prohibition was initially introduced to the city. Aunties spread everywhere and no place in Bombay was more than a little walking distance from the nearest speakeasy.

With competition the business evolved. The drinker needed some visual stimulation and younger and fulsome Aunties began wearing low-cut revealing blouses and throwing flirting looks and invitations. The older ones substituted with putting their frisky nubile daughters to serve the clientele with strict instructions on how far to go and advice on how to further relationships when they encountered eligible and responsible regulars.

Many an Aunty's daughter was married off to a Times of India reporter or an upcoming schoolteacher or even a prosperous businessman's son. The Uncle was completely out of the picture. He was either told to get out of the house by 5 pm and sleep at a relative's, or better still he was packed off to Goa with a regular remittance following.

Just as Goans prospered with a stint in the Gulf countries or earlier than that, in Africa, the Aunties too prospered. Most were possessed of shrewdness and spent their money educating their children and buying flats and homes in the suburbs.

Bandra was a favourite. In fact I was dating a very beautiful girl of Sophia College which was then the St Xavier's College female equivalent, who went on to become a medical doctor and who unbeknownst to me, was an Aunty's daughter. The day of enlightening came when she invited me over to her house in Dhobitalao quite early in the evening, but not early enough to discover (to her chagrin) a few customers straggling in. She avoided me after that, though having a rich Aunty as a mother in law would not have found disfavor with me.

Prohibition spanned more than one generation and an entire Goan culture encompassed it. Tiatrs were staged around Aunty's lives or with her financial assistance. Booze was supplied to the tiatrist if he was good and his presence in the joint would increase the clientele.

Bands would not venture to the show without a nip sized bottle in their inside pocket and this helped the composition as well as the quality of the music. Many a hot song would not have been birthed without this necessary ingredient.

My father had a good friend who after liberation went from Bombay to a police officer's career in Goa. There was an occasion when he had to come back to the city to arrest and take back a criminal who had fled here after committing a crime in Bardez. Having found and handed the felon to the Byculla Police Station for temporary custody, he came over to where we lived nearby and whispered an invitation in my father's willing ear to celebrate his success at a nearby Aunty's.

By this time the Prohibition Branch had been added to the Bombay Police and they had a habit of raiding speakeasies at their peak hour of business. Both my father and Blasco, his friend, were trapped along with the 50 or so other customers.

Mum had suggested to them that they drink at home, but they ignored her advice. So when they did not return at a late hour, I was sent to see what the problem was. I was too young to visit such joints then but I was the usual smart Bombay kid and in no time I found out from word on the street that a certain place had been raided.

Walking, I came across my father and Blasco coolly returning from the other direction. It transpired that while the clientele were lined up for questioning, Blasco could have stepped out of the line and revealed he was from Goa Police but he feared that he might be arrested instead of released and would lose his job as a Police Officer breaking the law.

However when his turn came he decided to reveal it and was told as a brother officer to walk away and take his companion, my father, with him.

When I came of drinking age myself, I was a regular visitor at Cardozo's joint in Mazagaon. Peter Cardozo was in a much senior league than the biggest Aunty. He employed trucks to bring commercially bottled feni and naval rum from Goa to Mazagon and my favorite was the Old Barrel brand which he sold for 20 rupees, the same price as the rum.

The feni was good, better than today's Big Boss and I considered myself too haughty to drink the usual country stuff. I was one of Cardozo's VIPs as I used to bring my friends almost every weekend and was a big spender.

For us, the all-you-can eat fresh Bombay Ducks fried in turmeric outside his doors was a complimentary from Cardozo who was a young mid-30s entrepreneur.

One day while relaxing in this manner with three others, suddenly the word 'raid' was heard. Leaving the bottle and the tasty Bombay Ducks, we ran to the nearest window that let out into a side street, along with the other customers and jumped from a height of about six feet.

Not all of the others were as young, athletic and of the level of sobriety as we, and a couple of them at least landed on their bones and started moaning and shouting in pain. We were not callous boys but we had no wish to remain to help them when faced with an arrest.

My Mum was a strict nurse and would have given me a strong Catholic guilt trip of how she had raised her only child to no good result. We walked back discretely to the front and saw Cardozo, limbs akimbo, telling one and all it was a false alarm. We went back to our places as if nothing had happened. Cardozo took care of the injured in style, by brazenly calling an ambulance and paying all the concerned charges.

When V. P. Naik the new state of Maharashtra Chief Minister replaced Morarjibhai of the Bombay Province, he relaxed prohibition. Not only because it had caused lasting harm to the Bombay public's health and guts but was also because of the culture of bribery and corruption that was taking root in the Bombay Police force.

I am sure that being a big grape grower had something to do with his decision. Beer was now made available and the government started permitted Country Liquor outlets, selling brand names like Rocket and Double Ghoda (Twin Horse), which kicked you much harder than a horse could.

No doubt these liquids had their origins in distilleries belonging to Naik and his sugar-baron cohorts from the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra. This gradual relaxation of a meaningless law sounded the death knell of the Bombay Goan Aunty. By then she had made her money and she could well say like Shakespeare 'all's well that ends well'. It was the end of a Bombay Goan era.

--
Roland Francis is based in Toronto, and wrote this in May 2008. It is to be published in a forthcoming book on Goans in Bombay, covering the 1930s to the 1970s, currently being edited by Reena Martins, a feature-writer and journalist based in India's commercial and media capital.

An Offering to the Goddess

2008-04-20T19:29:00.002+05:30

Deepa Krishnan has written a wonderful article with pictures (drool) of the pedhas offered to the Mumbadevi.

Read the article at http://desicritics.org/2008/04/20/093503.php

In the little lane behind the Mumbadevi temple, doodh pedhas are still made the old fashioned way.

Milk is mixed with sugar, heated and stirred constantly, until it thickens and acquires the colour of a creamy latte.

It is then hand-rolled into little offerings for the Goddess Mumba. Not that she hangs on to them permanently - she merely blesses them, and the priest at the temple hands them right back to you as holy prasad.

Read the entire article at http://desicritics.org/2008/04/20/093503.php

Sandra from Bandra

2008-03-13T04:11:00.001+05:30

I'd heard a lot about this documentary since the Bandra Festival 2 years ago. I finally found the whole clip available online (18 minutes)

http://imaginingourselves.imow.org/pb/Story.aspx?id=1430&lang=1

Its quite interesting and maybe you will see someone you recognise in the film, the places are definitely very easily identifiable to anyone who has spent any time in Bandra.

Tip: Let the movie download fully once and then once it has reached the end, click on the Play arrow again & you will be able to view it smoothly.

Amboli Trip report and snaps

2007-09-12T04:07:00.000+05:30

An attempt by a friend - Animish Mandrekar - to put forward what he clicked during his recent 3 day trip to Amboli.

Please click the below link for view his blog:

http://amphibicexperienceinamboli.blogspot.com/

Do click on the link, there are some beautiful photos of amphibians that are rarely captured or photographed.

An evening in Mumbai

2007-09-07T17:18:00.000+05:30

Hindu Business Line

…or a daylong discovery of Chennai — organised must-sees minus the hassles.

By engaging locals, they get invaluable “insider” information as well.

Shaju John

Inside a city: Catamaran at the Marina Beach

Vijaysree Venkatraman

There are tour operators galore cashing in on the travel boom to our photogenic country, but few have taken up the formidable challenge of ensuring clients a tourism-rich experience. Filter Coffee Tours hopes to make a difference with services that help well-heeled international visitors experience the subcontinent’s colour and complexity, minus the customary hiccups.

Back in 2004, Zuleika Nazneen, an HR professional and Deepa Krishnan, a banking consultant, formed a company to offer customised tours for business travellers to Chennai. They realised they had a niche market as overseas clients — with a weekend or evenings to spare — turned to them for advice on local must-sees and places to go gift-shopping for friends and family back home. Soon they began catering to other high-end travellers looking for premium tours in the chaotic metro.

Hardly anyone in the business sees the city as little more than a gateway to the real tourist spots which lie further afield. But Zuleika, who requisitions vehicles from her husband’s travel agency, successfully hunts for new places of interest — as a counterpoint to the not-to-be-missed ancient temples of Chennai. And Deepa recently created Mumbai Magic. Both entrepreneurs are conceptualising creative tours that afford quiet moments of discovery in metros where the frenetic pace of life can unsettle the uninitiated visitor.

Mumbai Magic

An antiques shop in Mumbai.

Mumbai offers a kaleidoscope of experiences for anyone who is willing to venture into the narrow and crowded alleys of the city’s various marketplaces. “But my clients will always get more than an offbeat shopping experience even at places like Chor Bazaar,” says Deepa. This tour of the “thieves market” begins at Mutton Street, which is flanked by antique shops selling cuckoo clocks, gramophones and other bric-a-brac. Further, every side-street has its speciality product — perfumes, kebabs and what have you.

The guides have been specially trained to point out aspects that visitors would otherwise miss out — the neighbourhood mosque with the marzipan colours, the pastel shades the Bohri Muslim women dress in as opposed to black burqas< /em>, and other minutiae that make the place distinctive. Even as they walk away with decent bargains, the visitors get a quick primer on Islam as it is practised in that corner of the city.

Woven into every tour narrative is the story of how Mumbai became this bustling cosmopolitan city from its humble beginnings as a fishing village. The cultural diversity is evident in everyday lives. Besides, the city’s calendar is full of festivals, many of which involve exuberant public celebrations.

And there are other finds. In the winter months, Mumbai is home to half a million birds, a fact which even long-time residents are unaware of. Flamingos, a good quarter-lakh of them, make their colourful appearance in Sewri Bay tucked away amidst tall buildings, slums, and open dumping grounds.

On your feet

Paul Noronha

Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations

Tours for smaller groups — less than six people— include bazaar walks, heritage district walks and boat tours, minus car service costs. The Cuisine Tour, a special treat for foodies, is new on the menu. A Cricket Tour is also on the cards in both Mumbai and Chennai.

Deepa and Zuleika pay their multilingual guides — five in Mumbai and three in Chennai — handsomely. They also promote responsible tourism and try to ensure that some of the money generated trickles into the neighbourhood. By engaging locals in their business, they get invaluable “insider” information as well.

On the whole one wonders if it is easier to sell Mumbai, which also gets a greater share of international visitors. Chennai does have a reputation of being a staid city, says the bubbly Zuleika, but visitors delight in everything it has to offer. “For many of them shopping for silks in Usman Road, buying trinkets on the sidewalks in Pondy Bazaar or just crossing the roads becomes an adventure,” she adds.

But there is more. The truly daring can go on a catamaran ride at dawn. These boats are nothing more than logs of wood tied together and used by fishermen all along the Coromandel coast. Filter Coffee Tours also takes groups to watch kol am (flour-based painting) contests in Mylapore, a suburb which is even older than the city it is now a part of.

Living traditions

S.R. Raghunathan

Kolam festival in Chennai

Many aspects of our culture that we consider commonplace could be fascinating for the visitor if the significance behind these living traditions is researched and presented well, says Deepa. Nor does she believe in confining her operations to familiar cities — the ones she grew up or worked in. So the capital New Delhi — with the Taj Mahal as a day trip — has been added on.

Drawing up imaginative tours involves researching facts and asking people the right questions. “That is how you find the legends and stories,” says Deepa. A three-generation-blog — http://www.mumbai-magic.blogspot.com — which she maintains together with her mother and her teenaged daughter, is a fount of information on various communities, cuisines and locales in Mumbai. “I can’t wait to come to India, and try all this,” says a visitor to the blog.

14 Sep : Music Concert_ SIGNUM QUARTETT

2007-09-01T17:56:00.001+05:30

Not sure of the Location details. Please call your local Max Mueller Bhavan / Goethe Institut

Max Mueller Bhavan/ Goethe-Institut

an collaboration with

SPIC MACAY

presents

Signum Quartett

String quartets covering three centuries: from Joseph Haydn to Jörg Widmann

Saturday, 8 September 2007
6.30 p.m.
The Seminar Hall
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)

New Delhi

** Passes available at Max Mueller Bhavan reception on first-come-first-serve

Signum Quartett
Kerstin Dill (violin)
Annette Walther (violin)
Simon Tandree (viola)
Thomas Schmitz (cello)

Following successful performances in Chennai and Puducherry in 2006, the internationally renowned Signum Quartett now embarks on an extensive tour of South Asia at the invitation of the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan. The programme for the concert in Delhi will include pieces by Schumann and Haydn and will feature the first violin quartet by the young German composer Jörg Widman.

The Signum Quartett received its first lessons from Konrad Grahe. Shortly after its founding, the quartet was awarded 1st prize in Germany's 1994 nationwide youth competition Jugend musiziert and a prize at the Charles Hennen Concours in 1997. They continued their studies with the Melos and Alban Berg quartets. Masterclasses with György Kurtàg, Tabea Zimmermann, the Artemis quartet as well as with members of the Amadeus, Smetana, Cherubini, and the LaSalle Quartets were further inspirations.

In the framework of the summer academy Prague-Vienna-Budapest in 1999, the Signum Quartett received the Thomastik Infeld prize which enabled the four musicians to record a live CD in Vienna. The ensemble was awarded scholarships from the chamber music foundation Villa Musica and the Werner Richard- Dr. Carl Dörken foundation, the "Freunde junger Musiker Düsseldorf/Meerbusch" and the Bruno-Frey-Stiftung. In 2004, the Signum Quartett won the nationwide German Musikwettbewerb and the special award of Zonta International. At the previous Musikwettbewerb competition in 2000, they received a scholarship and the special prize of the Rheingau music festival.

The Signum Quartett performed extensively in Barcelona and Madrid, at the Schubertiada a Vilbertran in Spain, at the Ludwigsburger Festspiele festival, the Oberstdorfer Musiksommer, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Salon of the Arts in Sofia, and at the Rheingau music festival. Their concerts were broadcast nationally and internationally, by the WDR, NDR, SWR, BR, Deutschlandfunk, DRS, and ORF radios. Following an initiative by the Villa Musica foundation, the four musicians were invited to record a CD with the SWR radio. The programme juxtaposes works by Schumann and Haydn with the world premiere recording of Jörg Widmann's first string quartet.

Concert programme
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): String Quartet in D major, op.76, No.5 (1797)
Jörg Widmann (born in 1973): String Quartet No.1 (1997)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856): String Quartet in A major, op. 41/3 (1842)

Tourplan South Asia

03.09. 2007 Karachi
05.09. 2007 Lahore
07.09. 2007 Jaipur
08.09. 2007 New Delhi
10.09. 2007 Dhaka
12.09. 2007 Kolkata
14.09. 2007 Mumbai
17.09. 2007 Hyderabad
19.09. 2007 Bangalore
21.09. 2007 Chennai
23.09. 2007 Colombo

1 & 2 Sep : The Photography Exhibition 'Vanyasrushti-Thane 2007'

2007-08-31T05:33:00.000+05:30

Rotary Club of Thane's

Here on Project Environment

Sahayog Mandir, 2^nd Floor, Sahayog Mandir Path, Ghantali, Thane (W) - 400 601

'HOPE' ( Here on Project Environment), a Thane based voluntary organization working in the field of environmental education, awareness and conservation organises a photography exhibition of selected photographs from Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary.

Photography Exhibition 'Vanyasrushti-Thane 2007'

Venue: Sahayog Mandir, 2nd floor, Sahyog Mandir Path, Off Ghantali, Naupada, Thane(W)

Date & Time: On Saturday 1 ^st September, between 11 am to 9 pm

On Sunday 2^nd September, between 9 am to 9 pm

The exhibition is open for all & entry is free.

For details please contact: Event Coordinators;

Rajendra Gosavi: , Rajesh Sachdev: , Yuwaraj Gurjar:

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PEN : Save the Dates: September 8th (Prithvi) & 13th (Theosophy Hall)

2007-08-30T14:40:00.001+05:30

From: PEN India

The PEN All-India Centre, Mumbai invites you, with you friends, to two events this September:

8 September

THE FLOWERING OF ATTENTION

A presentation on and readings from J Krishnamurti's teachings

Date: 8 September, 2007 (Saturday)

Time: 6.30 pm

Place: Prithvi House, 1^st Floor (Opp. Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu)

ENTRY IS FREE

13 September

POETRY READING

by Hyderabad-based poet Sridala Swami from her debut collection A Reluctant Survivor

Date: 13 September, 2007 (Thursday)

Time: 6.15 pm

Place: Theosophy Hall, 3^rd Floor, 40 New Marine Lines, Churchgate, Mumbai.

ENTRY IS FREE

Sampurna Chattarji

Member, Executive Committee,

The PEN All-India Centre, Mumbai

{whazzupmumbai} Sep 1 - Sep 16 : The Great Crossword Sale - exclusive preview

2007-08-29T12:59:00.000+05:30

From: Crossword Book Rewards

There's something for everyone at our Sale.
And even more for you.

Dear Book Rewards Member,

As our privileged customer, you get a special preview of what's on offer a day ahead of everyone else. The 31st of August has been exclusively marked out so you can take your pick from our fabulous range.

There are great offers on books, movies, music and CD-ROMs!

What's more, you also get a special 20% off on regular books and an additional 5% off on all sale offer books, a few of which are mentioned below.

	DK Encyclopedia of Science Cover price: Rs 595/- Our price: Rs 499/-
Explore and explain the world around you with the ultimate guide to science and technology. Discover the amazing secrets of science from comets to cyclones and rockets to reptiles. Find out how scientific processes work and carry out experiments of your own. Containing fully cross-referenced topics, this encyclopedia is perfect for homework or projects.

	Still Reading Khan Cover price: Rs 2995/- Our price: Rs 1999/-
This book is the tale of SRK's journey that led him from a suburban housing colony in New Delhi into the homes, hearts and minds of innumerable fans all over the world, a journey that transcended boundaries of nations, and the artificial barriers of culture. The book is the story of a survivor, a winner, a never-ending story of success.

	Phoenix Poetry Series Cover price: Rs 300/- Our price: Rs 149/-
A wonderful selection of poems from classic poets such as William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling and many more.

	The Complete Richard Templar Cover price: Rs 900/- Our price: Rs 695/-
A set of 4 books that showcase Richard Templar's personal, practical rules for dreaming, planning and overcoming even life's toughest adversities. For knowing what matters, learning from experience, using your intuition, staying younger and getting stronger. Rules of Work Rules of Life Rules of Management & Rules of Wealth

	501 Must Visit Destinations Cover price: Rs 795/- Our price: Rs 599/-
501 Must Visit Destinations is an invaluable source of inspiration for intrepid travelers seeking their next adventure or relaxing getaway for anyone who wants to experience new landscapes and cultures.

	Penguin Classics- Buy 3 for the price of 2 Cover price: Rs 90/- (each) Our price: Rs 60/- (each)
Timeless works of literature, featuring authors like Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and many others.

Do drop by and enjoy these benefits before everyone else does.

Warm regards,
Aniyan Nair
Head - Operations & Marketing

Send this to your friends and colleagues

In association with

Special 20% off on regular books and an additional 5% off on sale offer books for Axis Bank Priority Banking, Debit and Credit card customers.

Terms and conditions:
Additional 5% off on sale offer books only. Special 20% off on regular books. Book Rewards cards and AXIS Bank cards cannot be clubbed together. Please carry your Book Rewards card to avail the special offers. Book Rewards points will not be awarded during the sale period. The above offers valid in Crossword Chennai and Vishakhapatnam only.

Books

Magazines

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Movies

CD-ROMs

Toys

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Be a part in saving Mumbai's Botanical garden, popularly known as 'Rani Bagh'

2007-08-25T18:18:00.000+05:30

Dear friends,

We, the undersigned nature lovers, have come together to form the Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Action Committee to protect 3177 trees in the 53-acre Jijamata Udyan, Mumbai, better known as Rani Bagh.

Recently publicized Municipal Corporation plans to "modernize" Rani Bagh, which is both a public botanical garden as well as a zoo, will necessitate large scale construction activity entailing tree felling and will make entry unaffordable for common citizens.

To raise awareness about this crucial issue we appeal to you to sign a petition at http://www.saveranibagh.org/cgi-bin/petition.cgi or visit our website http://www.saveranibagh.org. Your e-mail ID will be kept confidential. Please pass on this link to your friends.

We need to act urgently! Master plans for the "makeover" are reportedly ready.

We need your support! Please visit our website http://www.saveranibagh.org
and join us in our efforts.

For Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Action Committee
Dr. Usha Desai, Hutoxi Arethna, Neelima Kalgi, Katie Bagli, Dr. Shelia Tanna, Renee Vyas, Hutokshi Rustomfram, Shubhada Nikharge, Ajay Bijoor

Vikalp screening at Prithvi on Monday, 27th

2007-08-24T18:42:00.000+05:30

VIKALP: Films for Freedom
In collaboration with Prithvi Theatre
Presents

SERUPPU (Footwear)
A Film by Amudhan R.P.

Monday, 27 th August, 7 PM
At Prithvi House,
Opp Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Mumbai 400049.

More information is available through

www.prithvitheatre.org / vikalp.prithvi@gmail.com

*ENTRY FREE, LIMITED SEATS.
*FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED BASIS.

SERUPPU (Footwear)
Amudhan R.P./India/2007/74 mins
In Tamil with English subtitles

The Presidential Order 1950: Para 3, by the Union Government of India,
states 'No person who professes a religion different from Hindu, shall be
deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.'

Seruppu is a socio-cultural documentary on the lives of Catholic
Arundhatiyars (Dalits/harijans/untouchables) of Dharmanathapuram, an old
slum located at the heart of Tiruchirappalli in Tamilnadu, a southern state
in India.

The people of Dharmanathapuram are involved in making footwear, one of the
traditional caste based occupations within India.

To rephrase Para 3 of the Presidential Order 1950, Dalits or the people from
the 'lower castes' within the Indian caste system, who do not follow Hindu
religion (including those who have converted to Christianity or Islam), are
not considered as Scheduled Caste. They can't avail of the quota reserved
for the Scheduled Caste in jobs or educational institutions or any other
already non-existent support mechanism that is otherwise available to a
Scheduled Caste according to the Indian Constitution.

Besides, the upper caste Hindus who have converted to Christianity continue
to follow their caste based practices of discrimination, exclusiveness,
untouchability, and at times violence against their fellow Christians who
happen to be Dalits as well.

This film brings out the discrimination and struggle faced by the Catholic
Arundhatiyars of Dharmanathapuram who also face stiff competition from the
increasing mechanization of the modes of production in the footwear
manufacturing industry in the era of globalization.

About the Filmmaker
Amudhan R.P.(Director / Producer / Cameraperson / Editor) has been making
films since 1996 beginning with Leelavati. Seruppu is his most recent work
after Pee-The Shit and Notes From the Crematorium.
Amudhan is actively engaged with Marupakkam, a media action group based in
Madurai involved in organising regular screenings, video workshops and film
festivals. Marupakkam also organizes the Madurai Film Festival every year.

Awards/Festivals
Muvattupuzha Documentary Film Festival 2007, Kerala
Moving People Film Festival 2007, WSF,Kenya
VIBGYOR Documentary and Short Film Festival 2007, Kerala
Third Prize, Jeevika - South Asian Documentary Film Festival 2007 , New
Delhi

More information on the film available on

http://amudhanrp.blogspot.com/

26 Aug : Guru Purnima Celebration (Mumbai) by disciples of Sitar Maestro Pt. Arvind Parikh

2007-08-24T05:20:00.001+05:30

From: Ramprapanna Bhattacharya

Hi All,

This is to invite you all to the event of Guru Purnima Celebration by disciples of Sitar Maestro Pt. Arvind Parikh. The detail of the event is given below:

Performing Artists: Ganesh Mohan, Ramprapanna Bhattacharya, Aswin Dalvi, Mehboob Nadeem , Tushar Bhatiya, Pulok Lahiri, Ramkrishna Das, Maruti Patil, Arshad Khan, among others.

Venue: P. L. Deshpande Kala Academy at the Ravindra Natya Mandir (4th Floor), Prabhadevi, Mumbai

Date: 26th of August 2007, Sunday
Occasion: 'Guru Purnima Celebration by disciples of Sitar Maestro Pt. Arvind Parikh'

Program Schedule

SESSION,1
Start Time :9:30am - 1:00 pm

Performers:

Nadheem, Shakeel, Arsahd (Vocal), Altaf, Rashid, Arshad (Sitar), Pulok Lahiri, Bhopal, Choudhari,

LUNCH BREAK, 1:00PM TO 2:30 PM

SESSION,2

Start Time : 2:45pm

Performers:
Ajit Kittor, Joshi, Amruta, Sarang, Rafiq, Tiwari (Vocal), Vandana, Maruti, Tushar Bhatia, Ashwin Dalvi, Ganesh Mohan, Ramprapanna, Ramkrishna Das (Vocal)

(Note: Please excuse me for giving the first/last names of the performing artists, as I got this list only.)

For more information, please drop an email to me.

Ramprapanna Bhattacharya
Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/vilayatkhani_gharana/Home.html

We do not get a second chance to make the first impression.

30 Aug - 2 Sep : I Cant Stop Loving You - The Ray Charles Musical

2007-08-23T17:10:00.000+05:30

Kim

http://whazzupegypt.blogspot.com/

JOHNNIE WALKER LIVE PRESENTS THE SMASH HIT SHOW FROM LONDON'S WESTEND

I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU - THE RAY CHARLES MUSICAL

THE SHOW FEATURES A BIG BAND ENSEMBLE, DAZZLING DANCERS & PERFORMANCES OF
RAY'S TIMELESS CLASSICS

INCLUDING GEORGIA, HIT THE ROAD JACK, UNCHAIN MY HEART AND MANY MORE HITS!

VENUE: THE JAMSHED BHABHA AUDITORIUM NCPA MUMBAI AUGUST 30 TO SEPTEMBER 2,
2007

DATE TIME

AUG 30 7:30 P.M.
AUG 31 7:30 P.M.
SEP 01 4:00 P.M. & 8:00 P.M.
SEP 02 4:00 P.M. & 8:00 P.M.

DUE TO A HUGE DEMAND FOR TICKETS FOR THE
WEST END PRODUCTION "I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU - THE RAY CHARLES MUSICAL"

WE ARE UNABLE TO FURTHER ACCEPT OR ACTIVATE TICKET BOOKING OR BLOCKING
THROUGH THIS SITE.

INCONVENIENCE IS REGRETTED

TICKETS ARE PRICED AT Rs. 2000/- Rs.1000/- & Rs.500/-

PUBLIC SALE STARTS ON AUG 20 AT RYTHMN HOUSE (22842835) NCPA (22824567)
ST. ANDREWS AUDITORIUM BANDRA (W) (26459667) JOHNNIE WALKER SELECT BANDRA
(W) (26486367)
The Ray Charles Musical

http://oranjuice.net/events/view/3

24 aug : Meet Greg Roberts, Malavika Sangghvi & Anil Dharker at Crossword Kemps corn

2007-08-23T15:52:00.001+05:30

From: Crossword Bookstores

If you can't read this message, please click here

Dear Book Rewards Member,

It is always a pleasure to write to our special customers about a new event at Crossword. This time around, we bring you the following book reading & discussion at Crossword Kemps Corner.

Join us for the reading & discussion on "The Making of Samovar" How a Mumbai Cafe became a metaphor for a generation by Usha Khanna.

Topic of Discussion - "The value of spaces in a city that nurture and foster creative and intellectual discourse" .

Panelists - Eminent Author Gregory Roberts, Noted Journalist Malavika Sangghvi & Columnist Anil Dharker

Date & Time: Friday, 24th August 2007, 7.00pm.
Venue: Crossword Kemps Corner

About the book:

'The Making of Samovar' is about the making of Mumbai's legendary Cafe Samovar, that has served for over four decades as the watering hole, salon, dining hall and meeting place of its leading intellectuals and artists. Cafe Samovar has been the hotbed of creativity, nurturing artistic genius and providing an environment for the growth of some of the greatest names in the arts in India. Nestled on a humble corridor in the Jehangir Art gallery, Mumbai's premiere art institution, Samovar - through its proprietress the indefatigable Usha Khanna - has been privy to some of the art world's best-kept secrets.

When the history of artsy -bohemian Mumbai is recorded, a chapter will surely be dedicated to the Cafe named Samovar.

About the Author:

Written by Usha Khanna ; directed & designed by Devika Bhojwani and edited by Malavika Sangghvi it is a one of a kind, treasured tribute, a delightful read and a page turning glimpse into Mumbai's world of art and intellectuals.

It begins in a kitchen in Rawalpindi in 1927, with the birth of the author, traces her involvement with the Freedom Struggle in Kashmir, her marriage to a young revolutionary, her tryst with Parisian cafe society, where she first experienced art cafes on the Left Bank; her exposure to new-wave art-house cinema, and every thing else that inspired her to create Mumbai's first and best loved artsy bohemian cafe Samovar- the haunt of artists, poets, film makers and students.

We look forward to seeing you at the store.

Warm regards,
Aniyan Nair
Head - Operations & Marketing

Send this to your friends and colleagues

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26 Aug : IndieFocus - A Producers' Workshop

2007-08-22T04:11:00.000+05:30

Sun Aug 26, 2007 2:00 pm

PVR Juhu

mumbai, maharashtra, India

Phone: +91 9833255171

BAISCOPE ENTERTAINMENT

In Association with

PVR Cinemas

presents

IndieFocus
- A Producers' Workshop
with

Kurt Inderbitzin

( Dean, Whistling Woods )

An afternoon exploring what almost no film schools would teach you. . .

- Raising finances for independent/non studio films
- Optioning scripts
- Selling films and negotiating distribution deals
- Playing the film festival game

The workshop will also screen a short film 'Mom N Dad'
followed by a Q&A with the director Kavita Carmeiro

On Sunday, 26th July, 2007
after 2 pm
3rd Floor, PVR Cinemas, Dynamix Mall, Near Iskcon Temple, Juhu

Annual Membership fees: Rs. 500
Session fees for Non-members: Rs. 100
Session fees for Members: Rs. 20

Please contact baiscopeent@gmail.com
or
log onto www.baiscopeent.com for more information organised by BAISCOPE
ENTERTAINMENT & EDUCATION SOCIETY

22 August/ Gieve Patel Book launch

2007-08-19T14:42:00.000+05:30

The PEN All-India Centre is happy to announce its fourth event this August...

THE PEN ALL-INDIA CENTRE & CROSSWORD invite you to the launch of

POETRY WITH YOUNG PEOPLE
edited by GIEVE PATEL

Poetry with Young People is an anthology of poems written by students aged between 12 and 18, over a decade, at the Rishi Valley School. These poems have emerged from a series of annual workshops conducted at the School by eminent poet, painter and playwright Gieve Patel.

Patel read to the students from great world poetry, and attempted to impart to them both a sense of poetic form, and the need to write poetry from personal experience and inspiration. The result is an impressive collection of poetry dealing with such varied subjects as mothers, lovers, animals, teachers, the natural world, war, and the environment. Patel writes, in his Introduction to this selection, that the poems are "distinguished by a sense of full-grown awareness".

Well-known stage and screen actor TOM ALTER will read from the book. Two ex-students of Rishi Valley School, Natasha Vakil and Ashesh Dhawale, will also read with him. The discussion will be moderated by Ranjit Hoskote.

Date: 22 August (Wednesday)
Time: 7 pm
Place: Crossword Bookstore, Kemp's Corner

Ranjit Hoskote
Hon. Secretary-Treasurer
THE PEN ALL-INDIA CENTRE

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

18 Aug : Wonderful world of INSCETS : Shardul Bajikar

2007-08-13T23:31:00.000+05:30

On Saturday, 18th August, 2007, at 2:30 pm at the SPJIMR Auditorium,
Mr.Shardul Bajikar shall conduct a Slide and Talk Show on the above topic.

Mr. Shardul Bajikar has graduated in Zoology from Thakur College, Mumbai. He
is passionate about wildlife and has been moving around in various Nature
preserves since more than six years. He loves watching insects and other
invertebrate life, and has managed to photograph many. Currently Shardul is
working with the Sanctuary Magazine and conducts several
educational programmes for students and teachers. He will present the talk
on Identifying the variuos TYPES / CATEGORIES of insects, which will be easy
from layman's point of view.

For further details, contact:
Bhavan's Cultural Centre office,
opp.Bhavan's Book Stall,
Bhavan's Campus, Andheri (West),
Bombay - 400058. Phone: 32938017

Always enjoy Nature......

Dr. Parvish Pandya
Co-ordinator, Ecology Programmes,
Bhavan's Cultural Centre.

KUMAR TALKIES at Awishkar on Monday 13th AUGUST

2007-08-13T20:12:00.001+05:30

Cinema is the theme at Vikalp screening at Awishkar

ON MONDAY 13th AUGUST - 7.30 pm

Vikalp , Awishkar and The Short Circuit, presents an evening
of shorts and documentaries

An Actor Prepares
Dir: Avanish Upmanyu
Dur: 16 Min.
The film peeps into the life of one struggling actor of the film industry.
It depicts his aspiration & struggle to make it big there

Holly Bolly (UK / India)
Dir: Dishad Hussain
Dur: 12 Min.
Two young filmmakers are forced to go cross genre.
Winner, best short, Los Angeles, Indian Film Festival 2004

Looking for Amitabh
Dir: Meenakshi Shedde
Dur: 5 Min.
Blind students talk about their how their perception of Amitabh Bachchan.

KUMAR TALKIES
By Pankaj Rishi Kumar
74 minutes
Location Sound, Sound Design Satheesh PM
Camera Avijit Mukul Kishore

Kumar Talkies is a run-down cinema in small town Kalpi, where few films run
longer than a few days, and each screening is missing a number of songs and
dances, thanks to the projectionist's whims. Once owned by the filmmaker's
father, it remembers better days, as seen unearthed through family
testimonies and 8mm footage. Still, the faces of moviegoers reflected in the
dark speak for themselves - the magic of cinema will never cease to
captivate.

The film explores the relationship between Kalpi--a small town in northern
India--and its only surviving cinema hall. The film chronicles Kalpi's
economic decline and its citizens' hopes and frustrations while taking a
nostalgic look at the lost, lavish world of cinema. The film also considers
the influence of television, which is gradually reducing the audience at the
hall.

. Best Film: L'Alternativa, Barcelona
. Special Jury Citation: Zanzibar Film Festival
. National Award for Best Audiography, 1999
. Screenings at 0ver 40 International film festivals

Venue:
Awishkar
New Municipal High School,
Miya Mohhammad Chotani Marg,
Mahim (w)
Tel.:02224445871

Time : 7:30pm

Entry Rs. 50/-
For student 25/- (ID Compulsory)

13 Aug : Vikalp screening at Awishkar - Mahim

2007-08-09T02:57:00.001+05:30

ON MONDAY 13th AUGUST - 7.30 pm
====================
Vikalp , Awishkar and The Short Circuit, presents an evening
of shorts and documentaries

An Actor Prepares
Dir: Avanish Upmanyu
Dur: 16 Min.
The film peeps into the life of one struggling actor of the film
industry. It depicts his aspiration & struggle to make it big there

Holly Bolly (UK / India)
Dir: Dishad Hussain
Dur: 12 Min.
Two young filmmakers are forced to go cross genre.
Winner, best short, Los Angeles, Indian Film Festival 2004

Looking for Amitabh
Dir: Meenakshi Shedde
Dur: 5 Min.
Blind students talk about their how their perception of Amitabh Bachchan.

KUMAR TALKIES
By Pankaj Rishi Kumar
60 minutes
Location Sound, Sound Design Satheesh PM
Camera Avijit Mukul Kishore

Kumar Talkies is a run-down cinema in small town Kalpi, where few films run
longer than a few days, and each screening is missing a number of songs and
dances, thanks to the projectionist's whims. Once owned by the filmmaker's
father, it remembers better days, as seen unearthed through family
testimonies and 8mm footage. Still, the faces of moviegoers reflected in the
dark speak for themselves - the magic of cinema will never cease to
captivate.

. Best Film: L'Alternativa, Barcelona
. Special Jury Citation: Zanzibar Film Festival
. National Award for Best Audiography, 1999
. Screenings at 0ver 40 International film festivals

Venue:
Awishkar
New Municipal High School,
Miya Mohhammad Chotani Marg,
Mahim (w)
Tel.:02224445871

Time : 7:30pm

Entry Rs. 50/-
For student 25/- (ID Compulsory)

PEN : 9, 11 & 13 August 2007

2007-08-08T02:28:00.000+05:30

THE PEN ALL-INDIA CENTRE

invites you to three events this month:

* 9 August 2007

A reading by AMRITA SHAH from her new book, Vikram Sarabhai: A Life (in collaboration with Penguin Books India). The reading will be followed by an interactive session with the audience.

Date: 9 August 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 6.15 pm
Place: Theosophy Hall (3rd floor), 40 New Marine Lines, Churchgate, Mumbai

* 11 August

PEN@Prithvi/ 'Whose Culture Is It Anyway?'

Should an assault on a painter, or the suppression of a documentary film, or the disruption of a play, be of interest only to the arts community? Or should it be seen by citizens at large as an attack on freedom? A panel discussion on the aggressive claims being made by political interests on cultural activity; and the renewal of democracy by citizens' groups mobilizing the in the public sphere against such encroachments.

An eminent panel, including artist SUDHIR PATWARDHAN , theatre director VIJAY KENKRE, playwright MANASWINI, and activist-writer IRFAN ENGINEER , will address these issues.

Date: 11 August 2007 (Saturday)
Time: 6.30 pm
Venue: Prithvi House (first floor), opp. Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu

* 13 August

Poetry@PEN – New!

This month, we launch a new feature, 'Poetry@PEN'. This will be a monthly platform where we will present emerging voices, host debates on craft and concept, and create spaces of encounter that are part reading, part workshop and part masterclass.

The first event in the Poetry@PEN series is a reading by four poets: Malavika Sangghvi, Mustansir Dalvi, Peter Griffin and Rohinton Daruwala.

Date: 13 August 2007 (Monday)
Time: 6.15 pm
Place: Theosophy Hall (3rd floor), 40 New Marine Lines, Churchgate, Mumbai

Ranjit Hoskote
Hon. Secretary-Treasurer
The PEN All-India Centre

+ + +

Evam Youth Forum Newsletter

2007-08-06T02:46:00.000+05:30

Evam Youth Forum

14th Newsletter, August 2007

There is no play and no theatrical performance which does not in some way affect the dispositions and conceptions of the audience. Art is never without consequences.

- Bertolt Brecht

Raking Up the Issue

Driven, dramatic, arresting, over ambitious and over enthusiastic is probably what best gets the attention of the young go-getters the city’s university is currently buckling up for the real world. This thought was reinforced when, bursting with all of the above, Vivin Matthew Easo’s project - ‘Theatre for Change’ hit it off instantly with the student gathering at Wilson’s college, Mumbai on 14^th July. The project aims to create awareness and impact change among the college-going youth of the city by using theatre as a means to bring forward contemporary social, ecological, political and economic concerns. Easo asserts that he envisions this endeavour as a sort of ‘catalyst’ that will hopefully urge and influence bigger, actual changes in the world outside.

Three short theatrical pieces were performed at Wilson’s college - Gary Richardson’s ‘Don’t Come Back to Matheran’, Vivin Matthew Easo’s ‘Midnight Special’ and Atul Kumar’s ‘Yoddha’ (excerpted from ‘Numbers In The Dark), dealing with the issues of deforestation, HIV/AIDS and communalism respectively. The project’s purpose and goal is admirable, as is the effort being put into it by Easo’s company, Theatre Watch - to provoke, to prod and to push; to use theatre as the channel to articulate certain crying needs of the day with the hope that it will trigger off some active participation of the young mind in the environment of today

However, the agenda is one thing and the act quite another. There seem to be some things quite problematic in the way the program is designed and in the manner in which theatre is employed in this venture.

Each 10 minute performance piece was followed by a discussion of about 10 minutes concerning the issue that the piece spoke about. But the time bound discussions only managed to rake up an issue and verbalize what a piece attempted to convey through the language of performance. Moreover, no sooner was a certain viewpoint expressed than Easo, who also played moderator zealously called for a counterpoint. Following the AIDS-centered piece a student questioned the validating tone the piece assumed towards an unfortunate, infuriated AIDS patient who sought retribution by cunningly spreading the virus to gullible members of the opposite sex. Evading the subject of justification, the query was responded to only in terms of a counter-query –Aren’t such acts of vengeance a common occurrence in the real world? And isn’t reality often unjust? A compelling foundation for this reality’s existence in the world of the play however, remained completely in the dark. By the end of it, most of the discussions remained in the realm of opinion versus opinion where the importance of ‘versus’ triumphed over that of ‘opinion’.

Living in the age of incessantly bombarded information, it is now common knowledge that an issue is not solely comprised of points and counter-points – every cause brings with it many different sides, different stories and different voices. But not a single issue was granted its complexities and grey areas. Atul Kumar’s ‘Yoddha’ is a piece which illustrates the fervour of a naïve modern day warrior who doesn’t even know the cause for his cause but still marches straight on to destroy the three domes he sees in the distance along with the mindless, raring warrior mob. He commits and bears violence like a soldier because he has a cause….or at least he has been told so. The piece thrusts upon its audience the question of the near impossibility of righteous judgment and condemnation even of an obvious wrong doer. But in the course of the discussion it was primarily examined in cut and dry terms of innocent v/s guilty and was transformed into something of a dramatized doctrine. Understanding an issue was not as important as meting out the moral – ‘Violence is not the answer’. Without doubt, to students at this level these morals are a given and a project like this needs to work towards taking it forward, building on it or challenging this given.

The stubborn absence of ambivalence that the discussion seemed to support was sadly also reinforced by some of the performance pieces. A particularly unsettling piece was Easo’s ‘Midnight Special’. The piece tells the angry tale of an AIDS patient, a ‘wronged’ woman who just wanted to be loved and now exacts her revenge on the rest of the world because she's been infected. She vents out her frustration and deals with her own helplessness by luring unsuspecting men into bed. Sensationalized, demonized and desensitized – AIDS is not a disease here but an atrocity. It induces violence and whether you’re a transgressor or an abider, it is a merciless blood-thirsty monster that can hunt you down. The piece failed to carry anything beyond its fear inducing banner – ‘AIDS will kill you so Use a condom, Use a condom, Use a condom’. Neither did the overload of conviction obscure the lack of investment in the piece.

And eventually there comes the question of the use of theatre itself as medium. Performance did not seem to be the vehicle of a message or even integral to it but was more of its façade. Its main purpose seemed to be the depiction of the ills and evils that plague our society with characters who were not more than paper cut outs and scripts that were not more than ‘infotaining’ sermons.

After the heavy dose of aggressive activism the final lingering thought is - if theatre needs to impact change then it had best find ways to vitalize and invigorate thought, not instruct it.

Written by Rachel D’souza

If we say that art is no longer relevant to our lives, we may at least risk the question "What has happened to our lives?" The usual question "What has happened to art?" is too easy an escape route.

- Jeanette Winterson

Around the Table

Using the opportunity of MIT Professor of Theatre Alan Brody’s visit to India, the round table discussion on the 23^rdof July at Prithvi, entitled “The Arts as a Necessary Source of Consciousness” saw the rare and promising event of a gathering of luminaries from a diverse range of fields – several out of the purview of the humanities and arts, including scientists, businessmen and politicians, to discuss art. Organised by PEN-Prithvi the discussion was initiated by the keynote address by Brody and moderated by Ranjit Hoskote.

Alan Brody's lively address included a word of caution; gatherings such as these tend to fall into a common trap – of attempting to justify art, something that he wished to avoid. What he wished to endorse, instead, was collaboration between the arts and the sciences, a search for a point of merger between these worlds where they could flow into each other, enrich and illumine each other. Drawing from his experience as a Professor of Theatre at MIT, he asserted his suspicions of a potentially harmful, imbalanced growth and understanding of the world experienced by those educated rigidly in one field and of educating systems that created a relationship of either/or between the arts and sciences. He narrated an anecdote to illustrate this point of view - of MIT mathematics students elated after discovering the perfect solution for a bomb that would kill the maximum number of people. What perturbed him was that there wasn't a tinge of anxiety that accompanied the elation – in the world of science numbers are numbers, even if they are actually people. Brody then went on to elaborate on the myths that surrounded art, especially in a predominantly scientific, rational world – myths that held the arts to be a ‘soft’ enterprise and to reveal what he considered to be the commonalities of the world a scientist and an artist share, a world of mystery, of inscrutability. For Brody, although the methods and processes of discovery might be different the question that plagues both their minds is the same, 'What if'?

Panelists like Shiv Visvanathan and Naresh Dadhich pointed out what they believed to be misunderstandings in Brody's approach to the notion of collaboration. Visvanathan spoke of how he felt Brody's view of the similarities between the two disciplines was a sentimental one that failed to grasp the core and method of science; what sort of collaboration are we talking of when we can be certain that the presence of art will never make an impact in a science text book. When Brody remarked that Eintsein's discovery could be made by anyone but King Lear could only have flown out of Shakespeare's pen, Dadhich spoke of how science is not bereft of uniqueness as Brody suggested it was, and that it possessed an art and beauty of its own. There is, he believed, art and beauty to Einstein's scientific findings and its there because it was Einstein's process, no one else's. Einstein is then as much the artist as Shakespeare, only their subjects differ.

The majority of the discussion that followed the address, however, had little to do with its concerns, and instead reflected the trap that Brody had mentioned earlier, that of seeking to justify art. The discussion wandered into personal anecdotes of how each of the several panelists had found a use for art, a purpose of art and a result from its employment. Gieve Patel shared how his experiences of teaching poetry to younger children showed him that art taught and instructed us how to love, how love would be incomplete without artists like Chopin and Shakespeare, and how art gives shape to emotions we experience – emotions he felt we would not fathom completely were it not for art. Shanta Gokhale narrated her experience with Glaxo-Smithkline, and how plays organized within the corporation helped fuse and bring together employees from completely different social backgrounds and hierarchies within the organisation, and rise above its corporate and economically driven ethos and attitude.

While these anecdotes did underline a collective understanding between all present as to the important role art plays in society, they not only failed to carry the discussion forward – Brody's address was thrown to the way side – they pointed to another far deeper problem, elucidated brilliantly by panelist Ram Bapat - the struggle against utility. Advocating the necessity of autonomy for arts, ethics and science, Bapat spoke of how we live in a world where a field's validity is informed by its utility, the arts are valid and necessary because they are useful. And indeed each of the anecdotes seemed to assess the arts, illustrating how they had been put to good use in different métiers. His words brilliantly summed up the spirit of such discussions – discussions that make for, as he humorously pointed out, round-table conferences where everyone pats his neighbor's back, shares a sidelong smile and passes the issue around…….round and round.

Written by Naren Chandavarkar

Edited by Rachel D’souza

Art has no evolutionary benefit. Yet, in our age, when routine physical threats are no longer a reality we say we have no time for art.

- Jeanette Winterson

Look Out For

1. Arpana Production's "Cotton 56, Polyester 84", 4^th August 7 pm and 5^th August 6.30 pm at N.C.P.A. Experimental, 31^st August and 1^st September, 6pm and 9pm at Prithvi theatre.

2. Q Theatre Production's "To the Death of My Own Family" 9^th August, 6.30 pm, at N.C.P.A Little Theatre, 12^th August, 11am, at Prithvi Theatre

3. Workshop on Protest Theatre by Salim Arif, 7^th August, 3pm and 8^th August 3pm at Prithvi Theatre

4. Panel discussion – "Whose Culture Is It Anyway?", 11^th August 6 30pm at Prithvi House

5. Aranya's "Illhaam", 17^th, 18^th and 19^thAugust, 6pm and 9pm, at Prithvi Theatre

6. Q Theatre Production's "Khatijabai of Karmali Terrace", 21^st and 22^nd August, 9 pm, at Prithvi Theatre

7. Q Theatre Production's "The President Is Coming", 23^rd August, 6 pm and 9pm , at Prithvi Theatre

8. "Nangiar Koothu" – A dance performance by Usha Nangiar, 24^th August, 7pm, at Prithvi Theatre

9. Nehru Centre Theatre Festival

The Script, Issue 8. August 2007.

2007-08-04T05:50:00.000+05:30

Dear Karishma Pais,

August brings in an early start to the Bombay festival scene with the Nehru Festival peaking off. Please contact Nehru Centre for exact details of schedule and plays. This month hindi theatre makes an impact with plays like Karode Main Ek, Ilhaam and Cotton56, Polyester 84 and much awaited Erendira and Nati Binodini.

On the QTP front, we are proud to announce a new chapter in our history. With the support of YES Bank we are bringing down a play from New York entitled To The Death of My Own Family. Also, we are back with more shows of The President is Coming and returning after a long hiatus, Khatijabai of Karmali Terrace. Apart from that, Thespo at Prithvi continues to showcase some new theatre talent. Our regular event, 'Great Texts' will be in full swing on the last Monday of August. We hope to see you there.

The following are the various QTP events:
7^th & 8^th August - Thespo at Prithvi : Prithvi Theatre
As part of our efforts to promote Youth Theatre, we introduce Thespo at Prithvi on the first Tuesday and Wednesday of every month where young theatre-wallahs will get an opportunity to perform on the Prithvi stage.

Workshop: – 'Protest Theatre’ by Salim Arif from 3 pm : Prithvi House.
To register for the workshop, please conatct us on 98204 80583

Main Show: - Juloos at 9pm : Prithvi Theatre.
Presented by ‘Moksh’ Theatre Productions and directed by Khushboo Shroff.
The play is garbed in clown costume where characters from the circus represent particular fields bringing out the consumerism plaguing our society.
Originally Written by Badal Sircar.
Tickets – Rs.50/- only.

9^th August at 6:30pm – NCPA Little Theatre : To The Death of My Own Family.
Our brand new play that we have been able to bring down from New York with the help of YES Bank.
A stunning truth told through the eyes of Nadeema, an Afghan-American woman who returns with her immigrant family to Afghanistan to help her father escape the ravages of war, only to witness the carnage of her entire family. This compelling story is not one of war or an individual.

Performed by Farah Bala.

Written by David Meth. Directed by Peter Ratray.
Entry is free. First Come First Serve.

11^th August at 6:30pm – NGMA : To The Death of My Own Family
Donor Passes are priced Rs. 100/- Only.

12^th August at 11am – Prithvi Theatre : To The Death of My Own Family
Tickets are priced Rs. 100/- Only.

21^st & 22^nd August

at 9pm – Prithvi Theatre : Khatijabai of Karmali Terrace
It is back with a bang. Khatijabai, is a play about an orphan girl who grows to become the matriarch of one of the more powerful families in newly Independent India.

Starring Jayati Bhatia

Brilliantly layered…wonderful portrayal”
– West Side Plus, Mumbai.

“Vivacious…Skillful…Innovative…Stimulating…Successful”
– Time Out Mumbai.

Tickets are priced Rs. 50/- Only.

23^rd August – Prithvi Theatre, 6 & 9pm: The President is Coming.
After the the resounding response to our newest play at NCPA Experimental and St. Andrew's Auditorium, we present more shows of Anuvab Pal's newly written farce about 6 characters short listed to meet the President of the United States.
'In a dog-eat-dog world of young competitors, reality television and short-lived fame, this comedy explores a day in the life of 9 people will stop at nothing because THE PRESIDENT IS COMING'

“Pal’s satire is refreshingly witty and sharp lends itself well to the stage with an intelligent mix of action, pace and dialogues.”

“Kunaal Roy Kapur’s treatment of the play is bright stylish and slick…..high dose of entertainment…succeeds in making the audience have a great time.”
“The effort is laudable for its subversion and its potential to spark very pertinent debates.”

- Mumbai Mirror

“Playwright Anuvab Pal’s entertaining slapstick comedy draws the guffaws… ”
"One particularly hilarious contender is Bangalore based Ramesh S (brilliantly portrayed by Namit Das).”
"The plays facile humour is also laced with irony and wit – after a first half of jibes at the US, the jokes take on satirical overtones.”
- Hindustan Times

“An entertaining piece of work that was one of the better productions to emerge from January’s Writers’ Bloc festival”
“Pal’s inventiveness allows for buckets of dramatic potential that director Kunaal Roy Kapur exploits successfully.”
- Time Out Mumbai

Tickets are priced Rs. 200/- Only.

27^th August - 18 Anukool, 7:30pm: Great Text Reading. : On the last Monday of each month people meet in Q's drawing room to read a play they may have heard of but not necessarily have read. Writer's come to see how the greats wrote, actors come to play multiple parts and theatre lovers come because it keeps them in touch with the art form. It is open all and everyone takes turns in playing characters from the play. Discussions ensue after over tea and biscuits.

In the month of August, we will be reading Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac - "The play talks of Cyrano, a Cadet in the French Army, is a brash, strong-willed man of many talents. In addition to being an incredible duelist, he is a remarkable poet and a musician. However, he has an extremely large nose, which is a target for his own self-doubt. This doubt prevents him from expressing his love for his cousin, the beautiful Roxane, as he believes that his ugliness forbids him to "dream of being loved by even an ugly woman."

We will be reading it on the 27^th of August at 7:30pm at 18 Anukool, Sq. Ldr. Harminder Singh Marg, 7 Bungalows. Next to Daljit Gym. All are welcome. If you need directions call Himanshu on 26392688 or 9820356150.We hope to see you at these and many more events.

In this month's edition of The Script, we have a whole lot of auditions and workshops. Along with that, Dolly Thakore tells us of her experience on being a part of the selection panel of The Academy of Theatre Arts and Akanksha Gupta reviews the Jaimini Pathak's 'Arabian Night'.

To access the full edition of The Script simply log on to www.geocities.com/qtpthescript/aug07

Happy reading.

Warm Regards,
On Behalf of Q Theatre Productions,

Himanshu.
Editor, The Script.

Taj Tea Trail - 5 Aug - 11 Echoes, Juhu

2007-07-30T21:39:00.001+05:30

Taj Tea Trail

Some meditate for decades to find true happiness; we think an hour is enough.

Join us on the Taj Tea Trail, a tea tasting and appreciation workshop and take a journey that reveals the mystery behind this exotic drink.

A journey that will transform you from a tea lover to a tea connoisseur.

Along the way, we'll master together the art of making a perfect cup of tea, discover anew the health benefits of making tea, find out how similar tea and wine are, test your TQ (tea quotient!) and more... while having some traditional tea time snacks.

At the end apart from being filled with tea, snacks and info, you will waltz away with a tea connoisseurship certificate, a guide to tea, a goodie bag filled with delicious teas and a special limited edition tea cup personally autographed by Saif Ali Khan.

Events Schedule

Venue: 11 Echoes, Juhu
Date: 5th August, 2007
Time: 4-5 pm

Fee: Rs. 200/- per person.
Rs. 150/- per person for groups of 4 or more.

RSVP: Neha @ 9819431898

E-mail: info@tajteatrail.com for more info

Taj Tea Trail managed by

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vikalpmumscreenings : Police stop Vikalp screening of Jashn-e-Azadi

2007-07-30T21:39:00.000+05:30

The Vikalp Mumbai screenings of Sanjay Kak's Jashn-e-Azadi at Bhupesh Gupta
Bhavan on Friday July 27, and at Prithvi on July 30th were stopped by the
Mumbai police based on a report/complaint that the film had inflammatory
material and could cause a law and order problem. This despite the fact that
the film has been screened in New Delhi, bangalore, Pune, and elsewhere
without any protest, complaint, or law and order situation.

At Bhupesh Gupta Bhavan some 50 odd people watched the drama unfold as a
large contingent of senior police officers and intelligence men arrived with
a search and seize warrant and seized the dvd copy of the film.

The Bhupesh Gupta management stood firmly on our side and stopped the police
from entering the hall without a proper warrant, since this was a private
space and a private screening. It was only after this, and our insistence
that they give us an order in writing that the police made the effort to get
a proper warrant.

Vikalp has drafted the following statement of protest:

STATEMENT
We strongly condemn the unwarranted action of the Mumbai police in stopping
a private screening of the film 'Jashn-e-Azadi' in Mumbai on Friday, July
27.

This clearly violates the established principles of freedom of expression in
a democratic state. The film has already been screened in various other
cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and even Srinagar. Nowhere else has any
authority objected to it, and neither has it caused any "law and order"
problems as the Mumbai police claim to fear.

We demand an inquiry in to this matter and an explanation for the
high-handedness of the police. We further urge the authorities to return the
confiscated DVDs of the film, and to refrain from any further
unconstitutional action against the screening of the film elsewhere in the
city.

Needless to say, our screenings will continue evey month as usual.
Thanks for your support !

26 Feb : VIKALP@PRITHVI, INAUGURAL SCREENING !

2007-02-22T01:33:00.000+05:30

VIKALP@PRITHVI, INAUGURAL SCREENING !

Monday, 26 Feb, 7 pm - An epic documentary on Bob Dylan

Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Mumbai 400049. Tel:
2614 9546

VIKALP: Films for Freedom announces a monthly documentary series in
collaboration with Prithvi. Our inaugural show, as an exception, will
begin at 7 pm on Monday the 26th of February with Martin Scorsese's
epic tribute to Bob Dylan, 'No Direction Home'. From March, screenings
will revert to the Prithvi Annexe next door at 7 pm on the last Sunday
of each month. Information on these will be posted on
http://www.prithvitheatre.org

NO DIRECTION HOME/Directed by Martin Scorsese (USA) / 207 mins

An epic documentary that spawns the politically charged folk ballads
that came to embody the very spirit of the turbulent 1960s ("The Times
They are a-Changin") and the stream-of-consciousness litanies that
irrevocably changed the face of rock music ("Like a Rolling Stone").
Director Martin Scorsese crafts an unprecedented exploration of the
musician's creative process. The film is the first ever film biography
of the enigmatic, near-reclusive Dylan, who grants Scorsese his first
full-length interview in 20 years for a startlingly intimate and
endlessly revealing portrait. The interview is supplemented with a
wealth of archival footage that includes personal home movies from his
childhood in Minnesota; unreleased interviews with colleagues Allen
Ginsberg, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Maria Muldaur; and rare live
performances of classics like "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Mr.
Tambourine Man." The result is a richly visual cinematic testament to
the life and work of one of the greatest and most influential artists
of the 20th century.

Also showing, three Indian short films/music videos.

Vande Mataram/ Directed by Amudhan R.P. / 5 mins

An alternate music video offering a unique perspective on pop patriotism.

America , America / Directed by K.P. Sasi / 5 mins

A satirical but severe indictment of America's role in escalating
world conflict.

Images You Didn't See/Directed by Anand Patwardhan / 5 mins

A music video that interprets images gleaned from the internet that
either never appear in the mainstream media, or whose import is masked
behind a velvet curtain of global infotainment.

ALL ARE INVITED! ENTRY IS FREE, FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE BASIS

VIKALP: Films for Freedom

The History: In recent years we have seen riotous mobs burn books,
destroy paintings, attack artists, tear down cinemas, rip apart
ancient manuscripts and make a mockery of all our constitutional
safeguards. The state itself has institutionalized censorship through
its Central Board of Film Certification and its counterpart in the
world of theatre. Documentary filmmakers have specially borne the
brunt of censorship. As the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF)
2004 approached, the then government knew that many films on the
Gujarat carnage exposing the ruling party's complicity could embarrass
it on an international stage. Overnight a new clause was introduced
stating that while foreign films remained exempt, all Indian films
would require a censor certificate. Even as over 275 filmmakers united
and threatened to boycott MIFF, official censorship was withdrawn, but
a dubious backdoor selection procedure excluded some of the best new
Indian films dealing with subjects like communalism, caste, gender,
sexuality and the environment.

The best way to fight back was to screen the 'rejected' films. So
VIKALP: Films for Freedom was born. Many filmmakers whose films were
selected for MIFF withdrew their work to screen them at VIKALP.
Girish Karnad stepped down from the MIFF jury. Filmmakers pooled in
their resources and found a perfect venue right across from MIFF at
Bhupesh Gupta Bhawan, whose solidarity was unconditional and whose
hall came free. Acoustic problems were overcome by curtains and
mattresses. Volunteers poured in and the buzz was electric. Despite
word of mouth publicity we had packed houses every day. VIKALP opened
with an excerpt from Sadaat Hasan Manto's ' Safed Jhoot', an
indictment of censorship and hypocrisy, performed by Jamil Khan,
directed by Naseeruddin Shah. From this high, we never came down. For
6 days rapt audiences saw and debated over 50 films and participated
in panel discussions on censorship. Across the street every official
MIFF bulletin and meeting denounced VIKALP and swore innocence to the
charge of censorship. But we were getting across. From juries to
filmmakers and audience members, the ranks of the disbelievers kept
growing - as they must. For an assault on freedom of expression does
not affect filmmakers alone. It is an assault on democracy itself.

The Present: Following this breakthrough we continue to do monthly
screenings at Bhupesh Gupta Bhawan. This success has led to
collaborations with other venues like Aavishkar in Mahim and Readers
Shop in Santa Cruz for monthly screenings. Film-makers in Delhi and
Bangalore organize regular screenings in their respective cities.
Selections of 'Vikalp' films have traveled to other parts of the
country and occasionally to other parts of the world. Now we begin a
new collaboration from March 2007 to do screenings at Prithvi, Juhu,
on the last Sunday of each month at 7 PM.

22 feb : SIGHT MAY STRIKE YOU BLIND (in English)

2007-02-22T01:16:00.000+05:30

CELEBRATING POETRY @ PRITHVI

FEBRUARY 16 to 26

THU 22^ND, 9pm

Prithvi Theatre

Poetry performance and launch of SIGHT MAY STRIKE YOU BLIND (in English)

by Sampurna Chattarji in concert with Sanjay Divecha

Reality, surreality, sensuality come together as poet Sampurna Chattarji reads from her new book Sight May Strike You Blind (Sahitya Akademi) in concert with guitarist and composer Sanjay Divecha.

As Keki Daruwalla writes in his foreword to the book, "Hers is a poetry of subtle impressions, far-off correspondences (but never far-fetched!), dissimilar images moulded into a poetic whole. She experiments fearlessly."

So come see poetry in a new light – a play of music and word, speech and silence, silence and clamour, clamour and song. A song to the city of 'Dogs, Mobs and Rock Concerts'; a song of 'Darkness', of 'Fear and the Smell of Old Sheets', of 'Pleasure, Forbidden'; a song of learning to look…and learning to look away.

SAMPURNA CHATTARJI is an award-winning poet, fiction writer and translator.

Her poetry has featured on Hong Kong Radio; in the international documentary Voices in Wartime directed by Rick King as well as in journals and anthologies including First Proof: The Penguin Book of New Writing from India 2; Fulcrum Four: Fifty-six Indian Poets (1951-2005) (US); Imagining Ourselves (US); Wasafiri (UK), Wespennest (Germany); Slingshot (Canada); The Little Magazine and Chandrabhaga (India). Sampurna is an Executive Committee Member of the PEN All-India Centre, Mumbai; on the Editorial Board of its Journal Penumbra, and is a key organiser of the monthly literary event PEN@Prithvi in Mumbai, featuring poets, journalists, filmmakers, novelists, activists, academics and others. Her first book of poems Sight May Strike You Blind has just been published by the Sahitya Akademi.

SANJAY DIVECHA is a guitarist and composer. His influences range from Western Folk and Rock to Blues and Jazz. Having started his career in Mumbai, he relocated to Los Angeles in 1987. In 1988 he enrolled at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood , and studied guitar with Joe Diorio and Scott Henderson among others. While in Los Angeles , Sanjay's "eclectic approach and forcefully-mature playing" made him part of the LA live-music scene, where he played myriad styles, including African, Brazilian, R&B and Gospel. As an active member of the Los Angeles studio scene, he played both acoustic and electric guitar on movie scores, jingles and albums, and recorded with world-renowned West African vocalist Angelique Kidjo and the legendary Carlos Santana. Back in Mumbai since 2003, Sanjay is an active member of the Mumbai music industry. He has spent the last two years composing and recording a collection of songs for his new album, where he is exploring the colors, sounds and languages of India .

Gorakhgad - The challenger! 25 Feb

2007-02-22T01:13:00.000+05:30

Gorakhgad
The challenger!
By www.natureknights.com

In the movie 7 years in Tibet, when Dalai
Lama asks the hero what he likes about
climbing; he replies
"It is during climbing one gets focused, forgets all confusion, lights become sharper, sounds become clearer. It is this time one feel the deep and powerful presence of life.”

Gorakhgad named after the saint Gorakhnath, is a small fort which gives you the taste of exactly same feeling. So to feel the might of the fort Nature Knights is planning to accept the challenge and reach those heights on 25th Feb this year.

The Adventure
To reach Gorakhgad, one can travel to Murbad via Kalyan. Reach village Dhasai from Mhase junction. From here, private jeeps as well as S.T. buses are available to reach the village of Dehri. Village Dehri can also be reached from Murbad via Milhe. Right from Dehri village two prominent pinnacles can be seen. The smaller one is Machchindragad and bigger one is Gorakhgad.

Fort Gorakhgad had strategic importance during the reign of Shahaji Raje. However, no major battle is recorded to have taken place here.It was used in Shivaji’s era to patrol the nearby region and was used as a stopover station during the journey to Junnar via Naneghat which was a very important commercial route. Though small in size, there is enough availability water and a lot of space for accommodation.

Two cisterns can be seen just after emerging through the entrance and the path climbs up further ahead. Further, a small step-way descends down to the large caves that are carved out in the main rock of the pinnacle. The trek to the caves is an easy climb, but the pinnacle is what makes the fort look so tempting to climb.The top of the fort is very small. There is a small Mahadeo temple with Nandi. A wide region ranging from Siddhagad and Machchindragad up to Ahupe Ghat and Jeevdhan in the Naneghat area towards north can be seen from the fort-top.

The Schedule
25th Feb, 2007
6 am Andheri (W) Station (near Ahura bakery S.V. Road)
6.30 am Bandra Kalanagar Juntion
6.45 am Sion Station (Opposite Sion Lunch Home)
7.45 am Thane
9.00 am Dehri Village
9.00-9.30 am Introduction & Induction for the trek
12.00 pm Reach main cave
1.00-3.00pm Climbing the pinnacle & fort exploration
3.30 pm Start for Base
5.30 pm Freshen up and start for Mumbai
9.30 pm Reach Andheri

Food
* The charges do not include any meals or Snacks.
Breakfast at Kalyan junction
Pre-packed lunch on the fort. (Please carry your lunch)
Evening tea on route

Suggestions for packed lunch: (Sandwiches); Thepla & Potato Vegetable; Roti; Boiled Eggs; Ready to eat canned food; home cooked roti / dry vegetable; Puran Poli; Bread / Cheese slice / spread; Potato Vada; Bread; etc you can get creative; We will have multi-cultural buffet. You can carry tetra packed buttermilk.

Clothing
track pants , full sleeves t-shirt spare shorts, socks.

Packing your stuff
Pack all to carry items in Backpack; lightweight on bottom and topside of bag; heavy items towards shoulder and closer to body. Use compression straps if you have them in your backpacks. Capacity of bag should be 40 to 60 liters.

Feet wear
Sports shoes with rubber sole or trekking shoes; carry spare slippers or floaters. No high heals allowed.

Other essentials in your survival kit
1) 3 meter x 3 meter plastic sheet (will be available in any hardware store) or local market
2) Hand Sanitizer
3) Torch
4) Pocket Knife (Preferably Swiss Knife or equivalent)
5) Towel (light) and carry one cloth, useful for wiping dirt.
6) Walking Cane (should be 65% to 70% of your height – strong and light)
7) Emergency money (Rs. 500/- per head)
8) One bundle of 5 mm Nylon or 3 mm Carnamental ropes (around 10 meter).
9) Carry a note pad and two ball pens for your diary writing.

Goodies & nice to have
You may also carry goodies like camera; small - binoculars, magnifying glasses and pocket field guide to make most of the trip.

Start and End – Date & Time
Start of Event:
Date: February 25, 2007
Time: 6 am
Place: Andheri Station
Anticipated End of event:
Date: February 25, 2007 evening 9 to 10 pm at Andheri.

Contribution per head
Contribution Rs. 400/= for members and Rs. 500/- for nonmembers. Only 20 seats available kindly reserve your seats well in advance. The above charges include transport, trek management charges and climbing equipment usage charges. Food is not included in the charges.

Transport: Private Bus/Jeep
Registration:
For registration drawn a cheque on : “Nature Knights – ICICI Bank Account Number 041205000027” Drop the cheque in any ICICI ATM Cheque drop box Or Simply do an electronic fund transfer. Our Banking branch is Versova. SMS us your name and payment details Cancellation Charges: Any cancellations after February 21, 2007 will only get 60% refund. Members / Non-members registering/paying on the day of journey (Feb 25, 2007) will have to contribute Rs.450 and Rs.550 respectively. Kindly carry only cash for last minute registration/payments.

To know more about us visit: www.natureknights.com

Eco-Tourism Etiquettes
Camps organized by “Nature Knights” are in the eco / culturally - sensitive area like Sanctuaries, Jungles, and places of Historical importance. While visiting these places we should blend into the community of Original Inhabitants and respect their culture and sentiments. We strongly believe in traveling in small groups, and follow the principle leave only footprints and take only memories. Eco-Adventure Code Forest and mountains by its very nature implies certain code of conduct to be adhered and we need to blend with these rules to make the trip safe and enjoyable for individuals and the groups

Don’ts
No littering we take back all that we carry.
Do not shout at, harass or feed animals. Your silence will help you appreciate and enjoy the jungle environment better. Do not carry radios and walkmans, the sound may not only distract animals but also you would not be able to hear / senses the beauty or the beast in the Jungle.

Unless necessary; do not pick up dead wood, chop wood or pick flowers and plants. This may seriously damage the forest ecosystem balance.

Alcohol / Drugs not allowed
Avoid smoking during nature trials, this could cause forest fire or also distract the animals, as their sense of smell is far greater than ours. Do not carry very expensive items which are not necessary like jewelry, very flashy clothes etc. At the end always report on time for scheduled events and do not forget to enjoy selves and have a great adventure with new and old friends in Nature Knights Family.

Dos
Take initiative in participating for all group activities, your teaminitiatives will make the trip more memorable for you and others. Be a team player, do not be a city snob. Be responsible for yourself and others. Stay with the group; never cross the designated lead person and never lag behind the last person designated. Remain with the group, venturing out on your own could prove to be dangerous.

How to prepare your self for any treks?
Go through the “What to carry?” matrix while packing your backpack. Carry personal medical kit, even though general first aid kit is available with the group. Rehearse packing and un-packing of your bags with proposed items to be packed (Remember - every item has a place, every item in its place); check the weight of your bag. You have to carry this weight for 4 to 5 hours of trek; do not carry items not required.

Fitness – Most important
1) Start walks 3 to 4 times per week; go for 45 minutes to 60 minutes brisk walk. If you can go for walks with your backpack or smaller bags, it would be the best way to prepare.
2) Do stretching exercise (stiff body can break down easily).
3) Built strength training (weights or GYM or at least do Surya Namaskar; Pushups; Squats and Stomach Crunches). 20 minutes 3 to 4 times per week is OK.
4) Eat good food (have 3 to 4 servings of vegetable or fruit salads per day).
5) Pranayam – Breathing exercise for developing stronger lungs. Research – Browse net; talk to friends who may have gone to proposed location; investigate publications etc.
If you have purchased a new shoe for trek, start wearing it at least 10 to 15 days in advance to get used to the new shoe. Most important; reach at the designated meeting place on correct place; time and date. Good Bye and take care.
Dnyanesh- dkgolatkar[at]yahoo.com
Know more about us at: www.natureknights.com

http://www.natureknights.com

24 Feb :"Jeevika" documentary screening

2007-02-22T01:09:00.000+05:30

FILMS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

Screening winning entries from 2003-2006

Date: 24th February, 2007

Time: 3:00 – 5:30 p.m

Venue: SOMA Store, Colaba

( Next to Y.M.C.A, diagonally opp N.G.M.A)

For details, call Anindita: 9820543245; Cyrus: 9821235370; SOMA Store: 22826050

PRESENTED IN MUMBAI BY:

TWO PLUS PRODUCTIONS Let's change entertainment

In Association with 'SOMA'

Zoom in on a mode of living, give a voice to people's struggles and triumphs.

Capture socio-cultural norms or legal-regulatory barriers that prevent people working in the vocation of their choice.

"What's the democracy doing? It takes 90 days to set up a business in India. A small business is not even setting up a complex shop- it's like somebody wants to be a rickshaw puller or someone wants to sell something on the road. A coolie's badge is selling at a premium of 3 lacs nowadays…you keep seeing archaic laws where the demand is far outstripping the laws…I have this memorable phrase (which I rob from a speech) "Review, Revise and Remove". ~ Rahul Bose speaking at the inaugural ceremony at Jeevika 2004

For film ideas, entry form & guidelines, visit http://www.ccs.in/jeevika

To take part in the 2007 competition, contact Nidhi at jeevika@ccs.in

Last date for entries 31st May, 2007.

CENTRE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY

K-36 Hauz Khas Enclave, New Delhi 110016, India

Phone: 91-11-2653 7456/ 2652 1882/ 2651 2347;

Web: www.ccs.in

Synopsis of documentaries to be screened:

1) Tales of the night fairies

Five sex workers-four women and a man embark on a journey of storytelling. The film explores the power of collective organising and resistance while reflecting upon contemporary debates around sex work. The simultaneously expansive and labyrinthine city of Calcutta forms the backdrop for the personal and musical journeys of storytelling.

The film attempts to represent the struggles and aspirations of thousands of sex workers who constitute the DMSC, an initiative that emerged from the Shonagachi HIV/AIDS Intervention Project. A collective of men, women and transgender sex workers, DMSC demands decriminalisation of adult sex work and the right to form a trade union.

2) Zarina

(Zarina / Urdu / Eng ST / 22 minutes / DVCam / 2004 / Dir: Suhail Bukhari and Piyush Pushpak / College of Media & Communication, Rai University, Delhi/ India)

Zarina is a film on the dying art of Mujra. The film recreates the golden era of Mujra, which has now eclipsed amidst the glamour and glitz of modern day entertainment. The contributions of the tawaif (nautch girl) to art and culture has rarely been perceived in positive light in a society mired in dubious puritanical standards. The film aims at changing popular and often simplistic, stereotyped misconceptions held by the society as well as an establishment that has failed to accept tawaifs as artists.The film also reflects upon how this art was socially accepted in the era of nawabs but the changing socio-economic and religious conditions made the common folk indifferent to it, leading to a much mistaken notion about its identity.

This film chronicles the story of Zarina, a 'tawaif' and her struggle to eke her meager livelihood. Zarina stands for many others like her who have lost their bread and butter to the music of the changing times.

3) One Show Less

(Hindi/19 minutes/MiniDV/2005/Dir: Nayantara C Kotian/National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad/ India)

One Show Less is about the increasing numbers of single screen cinemas that are shutting down all over the country. The film focuses on one theatre, Usha Talkies, whose spirited employees and raucous, seat-breaking public make it one of a kind. As the ticket seller puts it, this cinema is meant for the masses- if this theatre shuts down as well, the question raised is 'are the masses to be deprived of the incomparable experience of watching cinema on the big screen?' Through a series of evocative arguments put forth by the employees of Usha Talkies, a vivid portrait is painted of a unique way of life which might soon become extinct.

It makes its points with sophistication and avoids the pitfalls of documentary. Most importantly, it takes a human look at an institution that has survived at the edges of polite societies, familiar but unknown: the cinema of the poor.

4) Turf Wars

In 1999, the Great Himalayan National Park(GHNP), in the Kullu Valley of the state of Himachal Pradesh, in northern India, was finally notified and brought under the regulations of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act. As a result, the rights of the locals to graze animals and extract medicinal herbs within the national park were terminated. Simultaneously, however, a part of the park was deleted from the originally demarcated boundaries of the park to enable the construction of a hydro-electric power project. Turf Wars explores the contradictions that seem to characterize the government's policies towards conservation-wherein local livelihoods are expendable in the interests of biodiversity, but biodiversity must make way for national development.

Turf Wars engages in a number of debates about conservation. It is an open minded film, one that aims to provoke discussion rather than provide answers to problems that are inevitably complex, contested and heavily politicised.

5) Pretty Dyana

(Pretty Dyana/ Serbia /DV/45 minutes/2003/Dir: Boris Mitic/Serbia)

An intimate look at gypsy refugees in a Belgrade suburb who make a living by transforming Citroen's classic 2cv and Dyana cars into Mad-Max-like recycling vehicles, which they use to collect cardboard, bottles and scrap metal. These modern horses are much more efficient than the cart- pushing competition, but even more important – they also mean freedom, hope and style for their crafty owners. Even the car batteries are used as power generators in order to get some light, watch TV and recharge mobiles! Almost an alchemist's dream come true! But the police doesn't always find these strange vehicles funny…

6) In Search of a Job

(In Search of a Job/ English /Beta/ 14 minutes/2005/Dir: Mrinal Talukdar/ India)

Assam has long tradition of domestic elephants used in the logging business for centuries. Unlike other parts of India, even middle class people used to keep domestic elephants like their family members. There are still 1200 of them. The 1997 Supreme Court order of banning all sorts of felling of trees has changed the whole scenario. Overnight these elephants and their mahouts have become jobless. All others involved in the timber business have changed their livelihood, but not the elephant and mahouts. Desperate attempt to sell them or transfer to Kerala and Rajasthan where there is a demand of elephants for tourism and religious purpose is not plausible because of a law that does not allow transfer or sale of animals like elephants. So these 1200 elephants are in search of job. They are in search for an honest livelihood.

7) Treacling Down

(Treacling Down/Sinhalese/14 minutes/2005/Dir: Upali Gamlath/Sri Lanka)

The remote village "Meemure" is surrounded by a range of mountains and is famous for the production of jaggery. This village still retains old cultural habits and is largely self sufficient, but its excess production is sold after a tiresome and long journey from the village. Highly commercialised towns bag the produce of the village for a mere pittance and the products are then sold in luxury supermarkets at exorbitant prices. This production attempts to generate empathy for the Meemure villager. The film shows the villagers tapping the " Kithul tree" to make jaggery and the bees, wasps and butterflies collecting nectar from flowers. The bee does a lot of work, but an outsider reaps the benefit. The bee gets no honey. The bee and the Kithul taper suffer the same fate.

8) Aamchi Kasauti

(Aamchi Kasauti/ Hindi-Marathi/ 12 minutes/ DV Format/2005/ Dir:Rrivu Laha / Film and Television Institute of India, Pune)

Dawn breaks in the city of Pune….Sita, Shewanta, Kaushalya are seen dusting the streets around the town. What could they be possibly looking or? They are a rare breed of traders. They scavenge dust from day break to dusk and take their harvest at the end of the day to the gold traders who mark it against a kasauti or a testing stone to evaluate the harvest. The film is their story-Aamchi Kasauti, which literally means 'our test.'

23 Feb : Jerry and Jess at Oxford, Mumbai

2007-02-22T01:05:00.000+05:30

Oxford Bookstores

in Association with Penguin and Kitab invites you to

Readings and conversations over Wine & Cheese

Jerry Pinto will speak on his book

Reflected in Water: Writings on Goa

Jessica Hines will share her experiences in Bollywood while writing

Looking for the B Big

Join us on the 23rd of February, Friday 6pm

The Oxford Bookstores

3, Dinshwa Vachha Road

Mumbai -400020

66364458

Writer's Bloc Festival - Readings at Prithvi,Jan 9th-21st.

2006-12-05T22:01:00.000+05:30

RAGE Productions (Rahul da Cunha, Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel) is organising Writer's Bloc, a festival of plays written by new writers, to be staged at Prithvi (Jan 9th-21st) and NCPA (Jan 23rd-Feb 4th). The festival is a culmination of a year-long process, in conjuction with the Royal Court Theatre London, of conducting workshops for new playwrights to help them complete a full-length play.

8 Dec : Nandita Da Cunha's "The Magic of Maya"

2006-11-28T22:08:00.000+05:30

In case you are in Mumbai around that time,
please make it to the launch of the book by

Nandita Da Cunha's (01 BM batch XLRI ),

'The Magic of Maya'

Friday, December 8th,
at
Crossword Bookstore,
Kemps Corner at 7 pm

Anil Dharker will launch the book, followed by a dramatic presentation of excerpts by Raell Padamsee's ACE Productions

The book has received some positive reviews so far. See:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/displayit1.asp?pathit=/archives2/nov1106/books/book2.txt

and is already available at bookstores from this week onwards...

29 Nov : Book Readers club, mumbai -Cha Bar, Oxford, Churchgate

2006-11-21T23:54:00.000+05:30

Book Readers Club

Meeting at Cha Bar- Oxford Book Store

Book for discussion : Intimacy by Hanif Kureishi

Time and date : 29th November 2006, 1900 hrs (7:00 pm)

Brief :
Written in first person, it's a novel about emotion, about existential angst and trauma.

'Tonight', writes Jay, the narrator of Hanif Kureishi's novella, 'my predominant emotion is of fear of the future'. Jay is about to leave his partner Susan, and their two children. Not that he has told her he's going; he intends simply to pack his bag and slink away in the morning, to find some floorspace in his friend Victor's pad in a 'fashionable, bohemian part of town' and to start anew. As he waits for dawn and a new life Jay reflects over his past life and loves and why 'it is the human condition that we are ultimately isolated, and will die alone.'

Intimacy takes us into the landscape of male angst and put-uponness. Its an interesting view to debate and displays our own rationalisations and moral fibre.

The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon is back

2006-11-21T23:49:00.000+05:30

hit http://www.mumbaimarathon.indiatimes.com

c'mon boys & girls - lets run / walk 21 km....!!!

do cascade within your respective companies ....!!!

8 Dec : FICCI FLO Presents a Legal Seminar on "KNOWING YOUR RIGHTS"

2006-11-21T23:47:00.000+05:30

FICCI FLO PRESENTS

A LEGAL SEMINAR ON "KNOWING YOUR RIGHTS"

Dear MS. PAIS,

The FICCI Ladies Organization ( FLO, Bombay Chapter) is planning to organize
a "Legal Seminar" on the 8th of December 2006.

We think our women's wing can create a unique opportunity to bring together
resources for women in need of help. Women today women are facing an
increasing risk of domestic violence, physical abuse, and mental abuse and
are helpless, as well as unaware, of where to seek help. We, at FLO want to
create a platform where we can arm them with information , by introducing
them to legal professionals who are experts in their respective fields and
who can help them in return. It is aimed to take a step towards educating
the "Women" in knowing their legal rights!

The details of the seminar as follows

Event : Women's Rights

Topic : Know your rights/ Empowering
women

Venue : YB Chavan Hall

Date : December 8th 2006

Time : 10.30 am to 5.00 pm

Sponsors : Times Of India

Participants : Women across age group social
status

Logistics : 3 Capsules - 10.30 am
to 1.00 pm

v Civil : Suggested Ms Manjula Rao/ Shobha
Jagtiani

v Corporate : Suggested Mr Suhas Tuljapurkar / Ms Zia
Modi

v Criminal : Confirmed Mr Satish Manashinde

The session will be followed by lunch and then a panel discussion.

Panel Discussion : 2.00 pm- 3.30 pm

v Moderator : Suggested Ms Bacchhi Karkaria

v Corporate : Suggested Ms Anu Agha / Ms Lalita Gupte

v Films : Suggested Ms Shabana Azmi

v Lawyer : Suggested Ms Zia Modi / Ms Shobha
Jagtiani

Ms Gonsalves

v Police : Suggested Ms Meera Borwankar /Mr
Javed Ahmed

v Social Worker : Suggested Ms Flavia Agnes

v Politics : Suggested Ms Renuka Chowdhary

We plan to release a small booklet on "Legal Rights" compiled our own FLO
member who is an Advocate at The Supreme Court of India, and would welcome
SPONSORS.

I look forward from hearing from you kindly send your confirmations in the
enclosed Reply form along with the registration fees to Ms. Shweta Kapasi,
FICCI Ladies Organisation Bombay Chapter Tel: D- 2661762 / 24968000
Fax-24966631/32 Email: skap...@ficci.com at your
earliest convenience.

We look forward to having you and your friends participate in this event.

I look forward to your participation.

With best regards

PURNIMA DAS

Chapter Chairperson
FLO Bombay Chapter

25 Nov : Caferati read meet

2006-11-21T23:39:00.000+05:30

If you are a member of Ryze you may give your RSVP here-

http://www.ryze.com/ed.a?eid=31740

You may also give your RSVP here on Google board.

The details are as follow-

Bombay November Read Meet
Date- Nov. 25th 2006,
Time- 4.30 pm To 8.30 pm.
Venue- Committee Room, Ground floor, Administrative Building,
SNDT Women's University, Nathibhai Thackersy Road (Just ahead of USIS),
New Marine Lines.
Bombay, Mh, India

If you wish to read anything at the read meet, mail me the piece in advance
so I can make it a part of programme. Every reader gets 10 mins. So make
sure that what you intend to read fits into that time frame.
Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday :)

Regards,
suniti.

book club meeting in Churchgate-Cha Bar,Oxford Book Store, 20th October 6:30pm

2006-10-16T20:18:00.000+05:30

Readers Club will start a meeting in Town at Cha Bar at Oxford Book Store, Churchgate.

First meeting of the readers club in town will be on friday 20th October at 6:30 pm. author Altaf Tyrewala will also be present. We will discuss his first Book "No God in SIght".

Alo meet to decide on which book to read for the meeting next month.

Everyone is invited to attend.

monica kohli

Moving to Egypt

2006-10-16T19:48:00.001+05:30

Hey Faithful readers,

I know I haven't posted for awhile. Been busy with a major relocation exercise. Yes, we are Moving to Egypt

I will continue maintaining my whazzupmumbai event groups : whazzupmumbai@yahoogroups.com and whazzupmumbai@yahoogroups.com

But this particular blog will now turn into an event listing, since I won't be around to review events. So stay tuned. I will review some retaurants that I have been dying to praise, since I've had a phenomenal month of eating out experiences. But that will be once I get the time.

Until then you can stay updated on what I'm doing, by visiting my new blog Whazzup Egypt !!!

Baiscope Entertainments -Workshop on Indian Animation Industry

2006-07-23T22:59:00.000+05:30

Having attended Baiscope Entertainment's previous workshop with Anurag Kashyap we were quite gung ho about the animation workshop that they had invited us to.

The speakers were scheduled to be Geetanjali Rao winner of 3 awards at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and Siddharth Jain Head of the Animation Division at Adlabs Films Ltd

Geetanjali spoke about her experience with Animation since the last 10+ years. How animation was intially shot on 35mm cameras & each frame had to be drawn painstakingly. She also went into a lot of technical details which were very interesting, especially to the aspiring animators in the audience. Readers would recognise her work from the Hutch MMS animated ads

She has produced, directed & animated the film Printed Rainbow which won 3 awards at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival Kodak Discovery for best short film, OFAJ Very Young Critics Award and Petite Rail d'Or Award for best short film.

The animated short film is about an old woman who lives alone with her cat who is transported into new worlds when she looks at the covers of the matchboxes that she has painstakingly collected.

Siddharth Jain spoke about the Business Aspect of Animated Films. With Hanuman making a sizeable ROI, a lot of people are now interested in the Animation genre, but unfortunately not all of them can produce a good quality film. Plus for big producers, there are no previous trend lines to observe before taking a decision on whether to invest capital in an Animated Movie.

Adlabs is currently in the process of making an animated movie with Rajnikant as the main character. Hopefully this will be a success & this will give fillip to the fledgling animation film industry in India

Blogspot blocked by ISP's in India ????

2006-07-18T03:05:00.000+05:30

I was trying to check on my blogs since Friday morning, but somehow I wasn't getting through. Initially thought it was a temporary glitch, but by Saturday morning there was no improvement. Was travelling that day & the next and today whole day, I still couldn't connect. I had written to the powers that be at the blogspot help on saturday itself, but have still not got a response from them.

Spoke to a couple of friends who said that they weren't facing any problems, so I thought it was a wierd bug in MY system. Turns out the bug is a bee in some ministry's bonnet, who has ordered that blogspot, geocities & typepad be blocked by ISP's.
Some of the ISP's that have blocked blogger are at this location

A group of Indian Bloggers who have all been hit by this blockade are grouping together & looking for solutions here

Bypassing the ban

For sites blocked by domain names

Using google translate, e.g., if the blog is "blogyouwanttoread.blogspot.com", then use

http://www.google.com/translate?langpair=en|en&u=blogyouwanttoread.blogspot.com

For Blogspot

http://pkblogs.com:
Enter your blog name there and you're in business. Or directly use a URL of the form
http://www.pkblogs.com/blogyouwanttoread
For example, http://www.pkblogs.com/mumbaihelp will let you see http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com
Anniyalogam where you can draw just the text of the blog.
Use bloglines to find an RSS Feed to the blog.

Using proxy server for any blocked site

One way to visit a blocked site is through another site, generally called a proxy site. Some such sites and the info on how to use them are given below.

www.boreproxy.com

In this specfic case go to site: www.boreproxy.com

On that page below the link for favourites you will find an edit box. Put the shortcut of the site you want to access in this edit box eg. http://xyz.blogspot.com

Press Enter and voila! you have access:)

www.hidemyass.com

Use www.hidemyass.com and then type in the site you wish to access.

http://www.shysurfer.com

Use http://www.shysurfer.com. It allows you to not just surf, but also make posts.

Using http://www.daveproxy.co.uk also works

Got all this neat info on the Bloggers group & http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Bypassing_The_Ban

First time I have had to use a proxy server to access what I write. Makes me feel like I'm some kind of dirty criminal or terrorist disloyal to my country.

Much as I love my country, the politicians are slowly making it difficult for us to keep doing so.

First they take 1/3 of our salary in taxes & then they don't give us basic infrastructure (case in points floods 2 weeks back) non-adequate security (bomb blasts last week) and now they take away my stress release mechanism & window to the world (blogspot being banned this week) what are they gonna do to me next week ? Throw me in Jail ?

Neha has sone a much better job of blogging about this

I'm just tired, sleepy & cranky, so I shall sign off here.

Important Contact Numbers

2006-07-11T20:53:00.001+05:30

Western Railway Enquiry 131, (022) 2306 1763

Mumbai Helpline (022) 2200 5388

Cooper Hospital (022) 2620 7254
Bhabha Hospital - Bandra (022) 2642 2775
Hinduja Hospital (022) 2445 1515
Leelavati Hospital (022) 2643 8281
Nanavati Hospital (022)
Raheja Hospital (022) 2446 7569
Sion Hospital (022) 2407 6380 / 2444 9161

To send messages on TV News Channels :

CNN IBN
SMS "Mumbai" to 2622 followed by your message
Or call (0120)4341 895
http://www.ibnlive.com

Headlines Today
HT Message your name to 2424

NDTV
SMS message to 6388

Times Now
SMS YOU Message at 8888

For Blood donation, logon to http://www.indianblooddonors.com

Bombs in Bombay

2006-07-11T20:53:00.000+05:30

As most of you would know by now. 7 bomb blasts have hapenned on the Local trains on the Western line between 6:00 & 6:30 pm.

Quite a few dead and injured being reported.

To add to the confusion, phone lines have been jammed and its quite difficult to get through to people by calling them or sms. Some internet lines are working. I hope mine holds on for awhile.

As of now,
Central & Harbour Lines running
Long Distance Trains Halted
Western Line stalled. Might not start again till tomorrow.
Special BEST buses are supposed to have been deployed to ferry commuters from Churchgate to Andheri.

38 casualties at Hinduja Hospital.
Some at Cooper Hospital, KEM Hospital & Sion Hospital.

Will let u know the numbers to call for information as I get to know them

World Cup Finals at Fame Adlabs

2006-07-10T07:10:00.000+05:30

Citibank invited some of its account holders to view the Finals on the big screen at Fame Andheri.

Coupons for a free beer, pepsi & popcorn were also included in the offer. Since a couple of friends had also been invited, we thought it would be a good idea to watch the match together at the theatre. Added bonus, no snack supply/post party cleaning up operations for me.

But never again will we watch a match in a theatre. The acoustics kept failing. Picture quality was quite pathetic. (something about transmitting an analog signal onto a digital screen or some techy stuff like that) At half time the snack stands had serpentine queues since 4 screens were screening the match.

At one time (early matches) the offer was supposedly unlimited beer. But after a few drunken brawls between opposing fans, management of the theatre demoted it to a single beer.

Not an experience we would voluntarily repeat.

PEN@Prithvi: Deciphering the City

2006-07-08T22:30:00.000+05:30

In May last year, PEN tried to re-invent itself. They moved to new premises (from ground floor to second floor), inducted new executive committee members : Literary organiser and activist Aspi Mistry, writer Sampurna Chattarji, architect Savio Lobo and journalist Ronita Torcota.

At that time, PEN secretary Ranjit Hoskote said that, "the PEN committee went through a lot of introspection and has now inducted four new members in the executive committee. This, the PEN feels will save the literary body from going through a phase of inertia that it underwent in the last nine months."

Unfortunately this did not work out as planned. PEN went through another phase of inertia. They then felt that maybe South Mumbai was too far away for most of their target audience & so 3 months back they started PEN @ Prithvi. The first meeting in May garnered a large audience, but at todays meeting there were just 23 of us. Including Ranjit, Sampurna and the 3 panelists.

The Invitation from Sampurna said :
DECIPHERING THE CITY
A panel discussion with Naresh Fernandes, writer and editor, Altaf Tyrewala, novelist, and Nishtha Jain, filmmaker, talking about ways of understanding the city/urbanscape through their own methodologies of making.
Date: Saturday, 8 July 2006
Time: 6.30 pm onwards
Place: Prithvi House, 1st floor (opposite Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu, Bombay)

Most Mumbaiyyas would recognise Naresh's name as the editor of Time Out, Mumbai but not as many would know that, he is also the co-editor with Jerry Pinto of Bombay Meri Jaan, an anthology of writing about India's largest city. In 1996, he was among the authors of Murder of the Mills, a citizens' report on industrial sickness in Mumbai's textile industry, and in 1993 he was among the contributors to When Bombay Burned, a collection of reportage and commentary on the Mumbai riots.

Naresh started the discussion with a few incidents from his youth, linked them to his experience as a Wall Street Journalist in New York. He dwelled on how other than the Rajabai Tower & The Gateway of India there was no other monument that could be identified with Bombay (he did admit that VT was too large to fit on the cover page)
The setting was informal (shoes off & seating on chaadars) so his chatty informal style went perfectly well with it. He was interesting & amusing to listen to.

Altaf Tyrewala is the author of No God in Sight (Penguin, 2005). Time Out, Mumbai readers would also recognise him from his column 'Tyred & Tested'

Altaf read out a short piece on his relationship and feelings towards Bombay, which will be printed in a future issue of Time Out, Mumbai Essentially it was about how the city keeps calling him back and how he feels moored to Bombay. He also read out one of the short stories from his new book. Seems like that too will be in monologues like the previous one.

I have a soft corner for Altaf, since the time I met him at a Juhu Book Club Meeting and he remembered my name from a piece of fiction I had written for the Caferati Flash Fiction Contest and he had judged. Read about that episode here.

If reading his book was a pleasure, listening to him read from it, was an experience that actually transported us into the mind of his protagonist.

Nishta Jain's 2005 film, City of Photos explores neighborhood photo studios, unearthing the imaginary buried under gritty physical realities. Currently she is shooting a film about the city of Mumbai as seen, experienced and imagined by migrants to the city, including herself. Her other films are Call it Slut (2006) and Shadows Out of Time (2002).

From this point the quality degenerated. Nishta kept rambling, mostly off topic, highly prejudiced against muslims. (for eg : describing her City of Photos where one of the backgrounds at the studios for pictures was the crashing of the twin towers she said "I thought only the muslims wanted to take their pictures in front of that background, rejoicing and all that, but even others were taking their pictures with it") All this while when Altaf was seated right next to her. Its not wrong to have an opinion, but you also need to be sensitive to the feelings of people around you. Wonder how someone so prejudiced and closed to new ideas & concepts can be a documentary film maker. She went on & on & on in a monologue highly punctuated with "You know's" (minimum of twice in each & every sentence)

This started a verbal free-for-all by some attendees between whenever she stopped to catch her breath and her actually catching it. A lot of pseudo intellectual crap was bandied about by those who wanted their voice heard. (eg: 1 woman - "Suketu came home and read to us one of the stories from his book, of the birds fling in the taxi in Worli"- no one gave her any "bhav" so at this point she added- "from Maximum City you know") A few members did come up with a few good points, but they were overshadowed by those with verbal diarhoea. Naresh & Altaf wisely distanced themselves mentally from these attempts at verbal one-up(wo)manship.

Ranjit wisely called an end to the chaos (albeit an hour too late). Sampurna announced the relaunch of "PENumbra" the magazine. Most of us rushed away to salvage the rest of our Saturday evening.

I did enjoy the first 2 speakers, after that it was a waste of time. Nothing about the city was deciphered. There were some large cribs against other cities. some talk about villages being feudalistic & cities being capitalistic. In villages you survive but in cities like Mumbai you live & other such high sounding notions & inane conversation topics. None of which would benefit anyone in the crowd nor would be remembered by any.

Most memorable incident of the evening ? Altaf completed his reading, looked around at the audience for reactions & once Nishta started to ramble, he gave a quick questioning look at his wife (I didn't catch her name), she gave him an approving look & a nod & only then did he smile a relaxed smile. Authors are human too. . .

PEN - Indian chapter of International association of Poets, Playwrights, editors, Essayists & Novelists. They hold regular readings and workshops. You can be an Associate member or a full member. No qualifications to be an Associate Member. One has to have 2 published works for full membership.

Dastangoi - The Lost Art of Story Telling

2006-06-28T21:19:00.000+05:30

Mahmood Farooqui (right) and Danish Husain performed the dastangoi at the NCPA last Friday.

I initially read about "Dastangoi" in Time Out Mumbai, my source of knowledge for events in Mumbai. Then Dan Hussain posted an invite on the Caferati message board.

Exchanged a couple of mails with Dan in which he told me I didn't need to understand the language to enjoy the performance. I was a bit sceptical, but thought why not attend ? The performance at NCPA was free, so could leave at the interval if I could not make sense of it. Plus inlaws were in town & they love theatre and understand a fair amount of Urdu.

So the 6 of us bundled ourselves into the car at 4:15 to reach NCPA by 6:30.

The next 2 hours were completely spellbinding. As most people who know me would tell you, my knowledge of Hindi is recently acquired & I can barely manage the colloquial stuff, so I was wondering if I would be able to understand any of the proceedings. Inspite of Dan's assurances, my doubts persisted till Mahmood began to weave his tapestries.

Dastangoi is very difficult to describe. It needs to be experienced. But let me try to give you an idea of what to expect. Its a cross between a theatre performance & a poetry reading. The words are wonderfully descriptive and conjure visions in your head. The perfomers are seated but use expressions, gestures, tone of voice & myriad other techniques to transport you into a realm of fantasy consisting partly of "tilisms" (alternate worlds), aiyyaars, sorcerers & magicians.

"Dastangos were those who told ‘dastans’ (stories). Recounting tales of Amir Hamza, the Prophet Mohammed’s uncle, they told narratives of his battles with infidels, sorcerers and other pretenders to divinity.” says Farooqui.

"In the dastani worldview, good and bad are evenly matched, infinitely. When an evil sorcerer dies, a new one rises to replace him. When someone on the righteous side is killed, another one is quickly found to replace him. Hamza is the lead character, he is the Lord of the age."

"Dastangoyee is about four things: Razm — warfare, Bazm — assembly of singing, dancing and seducing, Tilism — magical effect or artefact created by the sorcerer, and Aiyyari — chicanery, trickery, disguise. The aiyyars, the tricksters, are employed by both sides."

If you would like to read more about the subject, do read
Mahmood's interview with Mumbai Mirror
Mahmood's interview with Mumbai Mirror
Mahmood's interview with Tehelka

If you would like to watch a performance, you are in luck. If you already caught the NCPA perfomance, then consider this the next couple of episodes.

Dastangoi: A Presentation of the Lost Form of Storytelling
(A Part of Katha Collage II)

The Sea of Eloquence – An Evening of Dastan-e-Amir Hamza
July 1 & 2, 2006 at 9:00 pm, Prithvi Theatre, Juhu, Mumbai

Tickets available at Prithvi on the day of performance itself.

The oral narration of Dastan-e-Amir Hamza was a popular past time in most parts of Central, Western and South Asia and North Africa since medieval times. Originally composed in Persian, the Dastan-e-Amir Hamza describes the battles of Amir Hamza, the Prophet Muhammad's Uncle, against infidels, sorcerers and other pretenders to divinity.

Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the Dastan-e-Amir Hamza was singularly successful in entertaining a whole range of people, from the commoners at chauks and nukkads to the elites in their palaces; it was performed at the steps of the Jama Masjid where Dastangos gathered. While their neglect as literature is inexcusable, they have been wholly obliterated from the canon of performing arts. As anecdotes of Mir Baqar Ali, the last known Dastango of Delhi, testify, their performances required an exceptional command over rhetoric, delivery, mimicry, ventriloquism and spontaneous composition.

The present performance of Dastangoi builds upon some recent shows that were enthusiastically received in the Capital. The performance consisted of portions of the best-known daftar, or chapter, of the 46 volume Dastan-e-Amir Hamza, the Tilism Hoshruba, the 'Enchantment that Steals away the Senses', which is itself in seven volumes.

The performances have come about as a result of a collaboration between S.R. Faruqi, the foremost living authority on these Dastans and the only person to possess a full set of all the 46 volumes, and the performers. Faced with neglect and systematic devaluation we now have very scanty evidence for the way in which these Dastans were compiled and performed. Even basic things such as movements, gesticulation, stage setting are wholly unknown. The current performance is therefore merely an exploration of an Art form which, astonishingly in a culture where poetry was regarded as the supreme art, was considered by some to be of a higher order than poetry itself. Dastangos were supposed to be a repository not just of language, common speech as well as literary, but also of social mores, craftsmanship, and all other forms of knowledge.

The Dastangos of old performed in an oral culture where memory, sound and directness were much prized. As modern actors we neither have skills to memorize whole daftars, nor the inventiveness to do spontaneous and extempore improvisations which are the hallmark of oral performances.

Mahmood Farooqui
New Delhi

Mahmood Farooqui is a self-trained actor and performer whose most recent foray into acting consisted of a role in Mahesh Dattani's English film, Mango Soufflé. Initiated into theatre as a schoolboy, and as stage manager, by Mohan Maharishi, former director of the National School of Drama, he directed several plays at school and college, and prepared for the final entrance workshop of the NSD, before founding his own amateur theatre group called Dastak Theatre. After completing his M Phil in Indian History from Cambridge University, Mahmood went to Mumbai and performed in IPTA's Aakhri Shama and the Company Theatre's Hindustani presentation of Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead. Earlier this year, he was given a Fellowship by Sarai, CSDS to work on the Dastan-e-Amir Hamza.

Danish Husain has done theatre with the best names in the country - Habib Tanvir, M.S. Sathyu, Barry John, Rajinder Nath, Sabina Mehta Jaitley, Aziz Quraishi, et al in a wide variety of roles. His latest assignments include a play called Raja by Rabindra Nath Tagore and a movie, Losing Gemma, by Granada Productions for a British TV Channel called ITV. He also performed at Bonn Theatre Festival in May 2006 as part of Habib Tanvir's Agra Bazaar troupe. Besides being an accomplished actor Danish is a poet and a writer, whose work has been published across a cross-section of media, including Tehelka and other journals. He is a member of few collaborative blogs and a writer's group called Wriyaz supported by the British Council. Danish holds a Master's degree in economics from the Delhi School of Economics and an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi.

Get to know the performers at
Mahmood Farooqui's Blog
Dan's poems & his Discontents
Dan's Proseonama

Time Out Mumbai is finally online

2006-06-28T18:15:00.000+05:30

After waiting and waiting for the Mumbai edition of Time Out to come online, they finally did so.

Check them out at http://www.timeoutmumbai.net/

Some Must Visit Blogs of fellow travellers

2006-06-27T14:44:00.000+05:30

As you know by now,
I'm one of the finalists for the travel contest.

Still waiting anxiously for the results, in the meanwhile I browsed some blogs of my fellow Contestants and each one of them has some really interesting work posted. Either travel descriptions or breathtaking photographs.

So here go some links to their blogs, in no particular order.

# I've been a fan of Akshay's work since a long time. I've linked to his photo features on my Whazzupmumbai blog very often.

# Harshad runs his own trekking company & has covered a lot of Shivaji's forts around Bombay and Pune. I don't understand most of the technical specs of cameras that he talks about, but his photographs are BRILLIANT. Some of his pictures of butterflies (if you have ever tried to photograph even one, you will know how difficult it is) are going to be published in books written by naturalists Isaac Kehimkar & Krushnamegh Kunte
Browse through Harshads blogs :
Through His ViewFinder
Trek blogs of his various outings in the Sahyadris and Himalayas, along with photographs

# Sahil's picture on the site, doesn't do him justice. He hardly uses any words on his Blog : Myopic Endeavour preferring his pictures to do the talking. He's a really interesting person & so much fun to talk to.

# Mridula has been travelling & blogging about her travels since over a year. On her blog, she says "For me travel is a form of escape, from my daily routine" I think she has put so eloquently, what we all feel. She is a consistent trekker and her blog has lots of stories, tips & pictures which tell the tale. Wish I could have met her, but that will have to wait till I take a trip to Delhi.

# Altaf has a different take on life ...the way he sees it. He's currently in Kaintholi on a Global Xchange program & living like a local so he has some really interesting stories to tell.

# Sheetal blogs on Of shoes -- and ships -- and sealing-wax where she blogs about the happenings in the twin cities of Hyderabad & Secunderabad. My Ex-City

# Divya blogs at Chronicus Skepticus Currently a Visual Merchandiser, who's also been a copywriter, a visualiser (at the same time), a web-designer, an editor, and a (garment) production manager.

# Rahul is the poetic soul among the finalists. Do visit his blog to read some of his original works of fiction.

# Apurv is the current editor of PaGaLGuY.com, a highly popular website most MBA aspirants would be aware of. Read his take on things at What Blog Men!

Gautam & Simona do not have blogs that I know of.

It was fun meeting 8 of the other contestants. (2 from Delhi & 1 came in later that evening) There were some excellent & passionate photographers amongst the group and when Harshad, Sahil, Akshay & Gautham spoke about lenses it was a foreign language to the rest of us. But we did share a lot of interesting stories about unusual places to travel, great photo ops, where & what to eat & a lot of other stuff like that. Most of us met each other for the first time, but we all had fun because of the kindred fellowship of travellers.

We ended with a fun lunch at Kobe's on Hill Road

Now all fingers crossed for the results. May the best man/woman win.

Ok Tata Bye Bye

2006-06-23T13:44:00.000+05:30

Hi Everyone,

I'm so excited.

I've been shortlisted for a travel contest. Which involves travelling
& Blogging. Hardly ever been selected for anything earlier :)

Check out the contest and my profile on
http://www.oktatabyebye.com
http://www.oktatabyebye.com/Krishma.asp

(Yes they have spelt my name wrong in the link, trying to get them to correct it)

The final selection is next week. I'm not sure how they will do it.
But have a vague feeling that they may do so based on popularity of
the contestant & ability to draw viewers.

Requesting you to please view my profile & drop me a comment, even if
its just to say "All the best, Kim" or "Don't think u should go" But
please comment.

Hope there's a lot of you looking for something to do on a slow Friday
afternoon.

Please, please, pretty please. :)

Kim
http://kimelody.blogspot.com - the XL Blog
http://mbajobsindia.blogspot.com/
http://whazzupmumbai.blogspot.com

Scholarship for females with 85% in science stream in HSC

2006-06-14T17:41:00.000+05:30

Loreal is offerring 2 lakh scholarships for female students in the science stream who have secured 85% in PCM or PCB.

It is only open to students who have completed their HSC this year from either Pune or Bombay. (Bombay is their head office. Pune is their factory location)

Look up http://www.foryoungwomeninscience.com/ for more details.

All details haven't been updated. Last year they were offering scholarships only to Mumbai students, this year it has been extended to Pune too.

Look up the website for more details on how to apply

-----Original Message-----
From: For Young Women in Science (India) [mailto:fywis@in.loreal.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 10:41 AM
To: 'Karishma Pais'
Subject: RE: Scholarship

The L'OREAL INDIA FOR YOUNG WOMEN IN SCIENCE SCHOLARHSHIP was started in 2003 for young women from the city of Mumbai. This year, we have extended it to Mumbai and Pune and have increased the number of scholarships offered from 3 to 5.

We at L'Oreal believe in doing things consistently over the years. Also, our india head office is in Mumbai whilst our factory is in Pune. This initiative is part of our corporate social responsibility and we have limited it to only two cities as we have a strong base here.

All the very best!
FROM THE FOR YOUNG WOMEN IN SCIENCE TEAM AT L'OREAL.

PVR in Bombay/Mumbai at Juhu sucks big time

2006-06-05T10:53:00.000+05:30

Where do I start with how terrible the Bombay version of PVR is ?

Maybe sequentially is best.

Ticket booking :
A little counter at the side of Dynamix mall on a one way street with no parking.
If you decide to use the parking of the mall before buying your ticket in advance, be prepared to shell out 30 bucks for waiting in line for 10 minutes to park your car and another 20 minutes to get it back. 1Rs per minute that you wait.
Advance booking rating : -10

Parking :
As mentioned above, it takes approximately 30 minutes for parking if you have visited the cinema for advance booking. During the shows, be prepared to wait 45 minutes to park your car and 1 hour to get it back unless you are prepared to miss the final 10 minutes of your movie, come rushing down and collect your car before the rest of the crowd comes out.
There is just one entry/exit point and 3 valets struggle to keep up. This when only 2 of PVR's 5 screens have been opened for viewing.
Don't even think of parking on the road. The area around is home to some high profile neighbours like Mr. Bacchan himself and Mr. Dev Anand which ensures police patrols on a regular basis and the possibility of bumping into a mamu looking for his daily bonus is very high. 30Rs parking or minimum 100Rs bonus - you decide.
Parkng Rating : -10

Entry:
The theatre is located on the 3rd Floor of the mall with entry through the mall itself. To put it in perspective, the mall is solely a Shoppers Stop outlet.
The elevator is difficult to locate as it is hidden behind huge barriers of display material of Shoppers Stop. Even if you do locate the elevator, it only goes upto the 2nd floor (basement, ground, 1st & 2nd).
The escalators as in any mall makes you complete half a circambulation before you can take the next level up.
The elevators and escalators are stopped at 9pm. So if you plan to catch a show later than that, be prepared to walk up 3 flights of stairs and a walk around and around half a kilometre of shuttered window displays. If that wasn't bad enough, imagine doing the same while helping your parents and grandparents on this yatra.
Entry Rating : -10

Time Management :
The show we picked was the 10.30pm show of Fanaa. Its a given in multiplexes, that the theatre doors are opened a minimum of 5 minutes before the printed show timing. Most multiplexes give you around 10 minutes. So logically you would arrive at least 15 minutes before the show is supposed to start. If you have been forewarned, then you would come at lesat 45 minutes earlier to be able to park your car.
At 10:30, there were no signs of the doors opening. 10:40 and you can still hear the muffled sounds of something playing inside the hall. 10:45 a couple of people from the previous show start coming out. At 10:50 they want to shut the doors to clean up the hall. But the 500 people who have been STANDING outside since at least 10:15, are in no mood to wait any longer, so they just start barging inside.
Time Management Rating : -30 (for each extra minute)

Facilities Management :
As mentioned above, the hall doors were forcibly opened by irate customers who had been standing outside for more than 15 minutes after the time the show was supposed to start.
Essentially you have 500 people waiting in a space which has seating for about 45 and no air conditioning running. There is standing space, but the air was getting staler by the second.
Once inside the hall too, the air conditioning was turned off. For the first 20 minutes it was cooler than outside, where we had been standing for 45 minutes, but it soon became quite stuffy inside too and the movie in true Yash Chopra style meandered for 3 whole hours (with interval)
Facilities Management Rating : -20

Snack Bar / Candybar :

Have you ever had the popcorn at PVR in Delhi ? The best in the country. PVR in Bombay ? Don't even go with zero expectations. The popcorn is soggy not crunchy. The caramel flavoured version has an extremely watery caramel. This isn't a "Bombay's humidity" problem. If Cinemax, Imax, Fame Andheri, Fame Malad and Fun Republic all within a 5 km radius can give good crunchy popcorn, then why not PVR ?
The samosas just look huge, the filling ? Lets just say I've had better food in hostels.
The burgers - terrible. The chicken burger patty only feels like potatoes patty so be ready for a carb overdose.
If you need napkins, you need to ask specifically for them.
Chilled water - not available - only room temperature.
Most snacks are served cold. You need to specifically instruct them to heat up food if you want it at a decent temperature. Then be prepared to wait another 10 minutes while the sole microwave struggles to keep pace.
Snack Bar / Candybar Rating : -30 (nothing is edible)

Washrooms :
Only 3 stalls in the ladies loo. So although they are slightly wider than most other cinema loos, be prepared for a long wait for your turn. ALso be prepard to miss part of the movie. Cleanliness can be judged by the people to loo ratio. Now you can get an extremely vague idea as to what people in slums have to adjust with in their common loos.
Washrooms Rating : -10

Exit :
No matter which show you attend, be prepared to climb down 3 levels of stairs, since there is no other exit option. Even to get inside the main mall is not possible once you get in the Exit stairwell.
Exit Rating : -10

Overall Rating : -130

PVR definitely needs to do some drastic revamping if they want their customers to come back and are even considering opening the next 3 screens. (4th Floor) PVR Priya, Saket, Anupam and the other one in Gurgaon used to be my favorite movie multiplexes. But Mumbai ? Me, I'm not going back even if they give me a free ticket to visit.

If inspite of this post you still want visit,
Dummies guide to watch a movie at PVR Bombay :
Go early - at least an hour earlier. You can then pick up your tickets at the same time. Park in relatively less time.
Eat at Brio downstairs before you go up.
Use the washrooms on the groundfloor next to Crossword.
Choose an early show & go up before the escalators and elevator stops working.
Unfortunately you have no option but to climb down. Unless you carry a crutch and ask them to let you out from the entry door, then take the escalator to the second floor and the lift t the ground floor.
Leave 10 minutes before the climax so you don't get stuck in the return crowd at parking.
No parking woes if you use autos.

Disclaimer :
All images used in this post are for illustration purposes only. PVR has not sanctioned or approved of this post. The views expressed are those of the author alone.

Eternal Gandhi Exhibition

2006-05-26T17:54:00.001+05:30

At a time when Gandhiji's ideas seem to have become relegated to tomes of history textbooks, the Eternal Gandhi multimedia exhibition helps to bring his ideas back into focus in a medium that makes it easy for todays kids to relate to & understand.

The exhibits explore Gandhiji's philosophies, the books that moulded him, his ashram stays and other thoughts through computer generated designs and interactive installations. It is an attempt to explore and convey how Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became the "Mahatma".

Conceptualised and directed by Ranjit Makkuni and his team at Sacred World Research Laboratory, the exhibition first displayed in Delhi, moved to Bombay a couple of months ago. For awhile it was exhibited at the Cowasji Jehangir Hall

But since the last month it has been displayed at the CSMVS. You still can catch it until the end of this month.

The Birla Trust has helped undertake part of the fiscal responsibility.

What you can expect to see :

Raghupati Xylophone : The notes are pre-arranged to play Gandhiji's favourite bhajan. You don't need to be a musician to play it.

Laser India Harp - allows the visitor to trigger music by touching the laser beams.

Pillar of Castelessness - Embodies "United we stand & Divided we fall" by lighting up when all around the pillar hold hands and turning dark when they let go.

Stambha - 11 rotating discs. Each triggers a visual clip of Gandhiji's principles of Satyagraha.

A wooden replica of Sabarmati Ashram

Each Pillar when touched starts an audio visual presentation of Ashram Life.

A Mural of Raja Harischandra's Story

A fibre optic Jail Cell to mimic the one Gandhi was imprisoned at, which has his Jail journal beamed across the cell floor.

The Charaka is everywhere.
As a motif, as a theme, as a background, as an exhibit....

And an extremely life-like wax figure of Gandhiji which could have you thinking its a real person sitting there. (The webbed toes gave it away)

....among other exhibits.

The exhibition is best summed up by a kid I overheard at the exhibition "Mommy, mommy ! This is so much fun !!!"

To be relevant and speak to today's generation of kids, you need to involve them in the discovery process by stimulating not just their minds but by appealing to their visual and auditory senses too. Since the experience also combines a tactile dimension, it succeeds on all counts. The exhibition is equally appealing to adults too, it shows that we CAN make Indian Museums a better leisure experience.

Little known Facts about Mumbai

2006-05-26T17:47:00.000+05:30

Mumbai originally was a cluster of 7 islands - Colaba, Mazagaon, Old Woman's Island, Wadala, Mahim, Parel & Matunga-Sion. It took 60 years to merge the 7 islands of Bombay into one landmass between 1784 & 1845.
The reclamations from the sea continue even today and India's most prosperous business district - Nariman Point - was reclaimed from the sea as recently as 1971.

Statistically :
Mumbai's per capita income is almost 3 times the National Average.
Mumbaikars have a literacy rate which is nearly 20% higher than India's overall literacy rate.
Mumbai's suburban rail systems carry a total of 2.2 billion passengers every year or roughly one third of the world's entire population.

Initially the city was named Bom Bahia or the "Good Bay" in appreciation of the excelent & deep harbor that it possessed on the East side. The English developed Bom Bahia into Bombay.
The Maharashtrians in Mumbai have demanded and achieved the renaming of Bombay as Mumbai. They claim that this was the originaly name of the city before the advent of the English who they allege distorted the name to Bombay. The name Mumbai on the contrary, is derived from the temple of Mumbadevi, the Goddess of Mumba.

Printed in Simplifly, March 2005.

Thank God It's Blog Meet (again)

2006-05-18T23:37:00.000+05:30

Attention all Mumbai Bloggers!! - A very important announcement

Saakshi Juneja and Amit Verma have decided to get together for another blog meet on 20th May, 2006 at 'Thank God Its Friday (TGIF)', Andheri West from 3.00 pm onwards.

Blog newbies, non-Mumbai bloggers and (only) blog readers - all are welcome.

However this time round no 'Special guest blogger' will be making a presence, but what the heck...good time can surely be expected.

Here is the full address:

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY (TGIF)
INFINITY MALL,
2ND FLOOR,
OSHIWARA NEW LINK ROAD,
ANDHERI WEST, MUMBAI

So put a note in your appointment dairy or PDA and make sure to get your butt down there.

For more info visit http://desicritics.org/2006/05/17/100534.php

Saakshi O. Juneja is an active blogger...slightly feminist and overboard dog lover. Currently working as a Business Development Manager for a sportwear manufacturing company in Mumbai, India. Did graduation in Marketing & Advertiseing from Sydney, Australia. As far as blogging is concerned...is a complete Blog-a-holic.

Photo Feature on Ratnagiri (Maharashtra)

2006-05-17T03:38:00.000+05:30

Who hasn't heard of Ratnagiri ?

Famed for its Alphonso/Hapus Mangoes....

The drive from Mumbai (Bombay) was 8 hours long with a couple of breaks along the way, but the scenery more than made up for the long journey. I hear the train journey has some beautiful views too.

We stayed at the wonderful "Kokanes Kohinoor Samudra Resort"
Located on the Ratnagiri - Pawas Coastal Highway, its away from the city, situated on a cliff, sprawling over 2 kilometres from end-to-end, it has the most brilliant view from every room in the multiple buildings.

The town of Ratnagiri is pretty small & so easy to navigate after driving around in Mumbai.
We first headed towards the Thibaw Palace - which was built for the exiled King & Queen of Burma (now Myanmar) in 1910-11. They lived here until they died. This would be a familiar name for those who have read "Amitav Ghosh's - The Glass Palace"

It has also been partly converted into a museum. The museum is rather pitiful as it has only 4 rooms. One on the ground floor which has some old sculptures salvaged from the Ratnadurg Fort. The 3 rooms on the first floor have some old, badly damaged copper vessels, old photographs and the last room is an attempt to recreate the grandeur of the palace. The sad part of it is that, although the furniture is still solid (being made of Burma Teak) the furnishings are terrible. Synthetic bright curtains drag your attention away from the intricate light fixtures.

These 4 rooms and 2 used for offices are currently the only usable rooms in the palace. there are plans to renovate & strengthen the remaining buildings. Hopefully it will be sensibly done.

Check out my entire photoblog entry

Interview with Usha Prabhakaran ~ author of Ushas Pickle digest.

2006-05-08T01:43:00.000+05:30

Usha Prabhakaran is an amazing woman. She has just written a recipe book of Pickles. Since she could not find a publisher for her effort, she has self published. To learn more about her & some "quick n easy" recipes that she doles out in her interview.

Visit CelebratingWomenintheKitchen

The lady who has interviewed Usha is Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal. Time Out Mumbai readers would be familiar with her work.

I'm desicritic of the day

2006-05-06T00:00:00.000+05:30

Hey all loyal readers. I'm desicritics "Desicritic Of The Day" today.

Read all my articles on Desicritics.org

Hijacking of Parking Space

2006-05-04T23:34:00.000+05:30

Sakshi Juneja writes on the hassles of parking & traffic in Mumbai.

Firstly, it takes me nearly 45 minutes to an hour to get from Juhu to M.I.D.C, Andheri East. The less said about the traffic scene in Andheri East the better it is. Come here any time of the day, at times even late evenings, you will, in all probability, be stuck in a jam. Most of the roads around the M.I.D.C are dug up - but then I can't recall a single day in all the three years that I have been coming here when the roads have not been dug up - this is the pathetic state of one of the most popular industrial areas in Mumbai city, 365 days of the year.

Read the Entire Article & Add your comments here.

Naturals Ice Cream

2006-05-04T20:47:00.000+05:30

Naturals Ice Cream
All over Bombay & Pune.
Original Outlet at Juhu

13th North South Road
Opp Lotus Eye Hospital
Juhu Scheme
Mumbai 400049
2620 6053, 2670 7558, 3097 7272

At 25 bucks a scoop (26/- in Pune) this ice cream is a real steal & can't classify as an indulgence on the price factor, although it is on the taste factor.

Creamy ice creams which combine Indian kulfi with natural flavours with fruit pieces in them are absolutely amazing. On a scale of 10, Natural ice cream rates 15.

Some ice creams are available around the year. Like the chocolate almond, choco cream, french vanilla, mango, coffee walnut, badam, kesar pista, anjeer.... Some like the chickoo, seetaphal, papaya - pineapple, tender coconut & water melon are seasonal. But they all are priced at the same amount. In season, you can even opt for fresh mango or strawberry pieces served with malai ice cream for 65/- At the Juhu outlet, they will even convert your ice cream to a milkshake for 65/-

If you can't make up your mind in this range of flavors, go for a double scoop.

They offer free home delivery & you can even opt for the 1/2 kg tubs at 135/- each. If you give them a day's notice they even organise a thermocol box to carry your ice cream on a long journey or picnic.

Naturals ice cream actually spoils you for taste, that no other ice cream can match up. Baskin Robbins seems too sweet & most local brands seem too watery.

Some outlets offer a waffle cone for 3-5 bucks extra. With over 15 outlets across the city & a price point of Rs.25/- only, you have no excuse not to try Naturals Ice Cream.

Brio, The Cafe Bistro

2006-05-02T10:03:00.000+05:30

Brio, The Cafe Bistro
Behind Shoppers Stop
Dynamix Mall
Near Chandan Cinema
Juhu

Brio opened its doors about 2 weeks ago. It looks really fancy from the outside & you could be easily mistaken into thinking that this was an expensive joint and walking away.

For me, the craving for a coffee before visiting my favourite haunt (Crossword) was too strong to give it the go by & hence I entered and was pleasantly suprised by everything.

Read the Entire Review here.

Kobe Sizzlers

2006-04-29T20:45:00.000+05:30

Kobe Sizzlers
7 Bungalows
77A Om Cottage, J P Road
Versova Andheri (W)
Mumbai 53
2635 4848, 2635 4949

Basic simple decor.
Reasonably good service.
Great Food.

The Ice Tea at 50/- is light & refreshing & freshly made without an overdose of lemon. It hits the right spot on a summer day.

The variety of sizzlers (190-280) on offer is huge.You can choose chicken, steak or veg options. Theres even a prawn sizzler for 350/-. If you can't make up your mind between chicken & steak they even offer a combination of the two for 270/-. The basic sizzler comes with vegetables & fries, except for the Shashlik which is served on a bed of rice. Choose your sauce - schezwan/ garlic/ pepper/ mushroom. Then you can always add extras like cheese, mushrooms or fried eggs for between 10/- - 30/- per topping.

The chicken is always tender, but their steaks are sometimes a bit of an effort to chew (not rubbery mind you, not even too chewy, its just that by the time you have eaten it all, you may have a dull ache in your jaw) The hamburger patty is the best option since it gives you all the flavour with minimum chewing effort since it literally melts in your mouth but you do get to feel the consistency of meat.

You can try their burgers which range from 50 to 80. Sandwiches range from 50 to 90. Rolls & hotdogs (40-60) even pizzas (100-130). I've heard their pretty good, but never tasted them myself.

Their soups especially the scotch broth(50) are nourishing yet tasty. & in case you were wondering, 'Steak' is a polite euphemism for beef. I'm guessing that they anticipate trouble if they print beef on their menus.

My favourite sizzler at Kobes ? Hamburger steak in a garlic sauce with extra mushrooms & egg. (240/-) Try it sometime & be careful not to burn your tongue.

Why are you looking at me ?

2006-04-20T18:36:00.000+05:30

Many of you may remember the Blank Noise blog-a-thon on the issue of harassment of women on the streets, euphemestically referred to as "Eve-teasing".

Blank Noise is going a step forward with an intervention this time. They're planning to stage 'Why are you looking at me'. This is what it would look like, except, they're planning to do this in the evening and not at night - http://blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/2005/06/participants-payal-sandhya
-namita-neha.html

They can use as many volunteers as possible so please participate!

You can mail Chinmayee Manjunath [chininath[at]rediffmail[dot]com] for more details

Venue: Carter Road
Time: 5.30 pm
Date: Saturday, April 22

Please spread the word. They can use as many people as are interested. They need 17 for the intervention and everyone else can help with the posters/ opinion polls. And they need people to help document it with photographs, etc.

Book Review : Ravan and Eddie by Kiran Nagarkar

2006-04-04T19:31:00.000+05:30

This review of mine has been published on desicritics.org

Met the author recently & since he seemed like an interesting person, I thought it might be worthwhile to read the book.

Ravan & Eddie is a reasonably hilarious story about Ravan, a Maratha Hindu & Eddie, a Roman Catholic growing up to adolescence on different floors of the Central Works Department chawl no 17 in Bombay.

Having never before been inside a Chawl, inspite of seeing plenty from the outside, this book seemed the ideal vehicle to get transported inside a place I had never been before. Or at least the blurb said so.

The story starts off when Ravan is not yet born & Eddie is barely a year old. It then follows them through the twists & turns of their growing up, the pleasure, the pain, the horror, the angst, the guilt, the questions ... they are all there in the book.

Kiran Nagarkar confesses upfront, that he has a tendency to rat on his own earnestness with something farcial, bawdy or self-deprecatory. If you can handle that, you will love the book.

With the mill lands being sold off for Commercial gains, the only way we may know of Chawls & life in them will be through books like Ravan & Eddie.

Kiran breaks of in between the narrative to give the reader "a Digression on Afghan Snow", a "Meditation on Neighbours", the "History of Romantic Comedies in Hindi Films", & the "Shortest Survey ever of the Portugese Advanture in the Old World"

The "Meditation on Neighbours" is Absolutely Brilliant, even as a stand alone piece of writing. It elaborates on some elementary or critical differences between the Catholics & Hindus living in the chawls. The book is worth buying just to read this elaboration.

Looking forward to buying and reading Cuckold & Seven Sixes Are Forty Three. Then maybe I can try to get my hands on his plays & screenplays.

About the Author :
Kiran Nagarkar was born in Mumbai. He wrote his first book in a language in which he had never written before - Marathi. The book was called Saat Sakkam Trechalis, recently translated as Seven Sixes are Forty-Three, and is considered a landmark in post-independence Indian literature. His novel in English, Ravan and Eddie, acclaimed as a literary bestseller, has been translated into Marathi.

Read an Interview with the Author Kiran Nagarkar

Wikipedia on Bombay/Mumbai

2006-04-03T18:56:00.000+05:30

Wikipedia has quite a few postings related to Bombay's landmarks & culture. Clcik on each item to view.

List of Cultural Centres in Bombay

Prince of Wales Museum
Jehangir Art Gallery
National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA)
Rang Bhavan
Yashwantrao Chavan Centre
National Gallery for Modern Art
Victoria Gardens zoo + a museum affiliated to it.
Opera House (now defunct)

Other Places of Interest in Bombay include :
Aarey Milk Colony
Bandstand Promenade
Banganga
Bhuleshwar
Bombay Natural History Museum
Bori Bunder
Castella de Aguada
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
Chor Bazaar
Chowpatty Beach
Crawford Market
David Sassoon Library
Elephanta Caves
Essel World
Fashion Street
Film City
Flora Fountain now renamed to Hutatma Chowk
Gateway of India
Gilbert Hill
Girgaum Chowpatti
Hanging Gardens
High Court
INS Vikrant
Jehangir Art Gallery
Jijamata Udyaan
Juhu Beach
Kamala Nehru Park
Kanheri Caves
Kashid Beach
Lands End
Mahalakshmi Race Course
Marine Drive earlier/historically referred to as Queen's Necklace
Marvé Beach
Nehru Centre
Nehru Planetarium
Powai Lake
Prince of Wales Museum
Prithvi Theatre
Rajabai Tower
Sanjay Gandhi National Park (Borivali National Park)
Taj Mahal Hotel
Taraporewala Aquarium
University of Mumbai
Veermata Jeejabai Bhosale Udyan
Victoria Terminus
Vihar Lake

List of Mumbai beaches

Caves around Mumbai

Forts around Mumbai

Parks in Mumbai

Places of worship in Mumbai

Also see
Timeline of Mumbai Events
The Municipal Corporation Building
Buildings and structures in Mumbai
Railway stations in Mumbai

National Consultation On Environment, Human Rights & Law

2006-03-31T15:08:00.000+05:30

NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON Environment Humanrights and Law
April 28-30, 2006
Mumbai

Dear All,
Greetings from India Centre for Human Rights and Law (ICHRL). We are a human rights organization in Mumbai, part of the national network; Human Rights Law Netork (HRLN). We are glad to inform you that we are organizing a NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON ENVIRONMENT, HUMANRIGHTS AND LAW during April 28-30, 2006 at Mumbai for activists and lawyers across the country.

In the present scenario of mounting pressures on our finite environmental resources from multiple fronts such as global climatic changes, population explosion, industrialization and urbanization, it is imperative to strengthen our rules and regulations further to conserve and safeguard the environmental resources inorder to ensure the invaluable ecosystem services that foster the very existence of life on this planet. Unfortunately, in the current Indian environmental scenario is very grim as the unsustainable resource utilization and development activities are being pushed forward flouting the existing laws and regulations. The situation is further worsened by the fact that these very rules and regulations themselves are being targeted for systematic dilutions especially during the recent years fuelled by globalization and market forces.

In this context, we felt that it is critical to examine how far the ongoing 'reforms' in the environmental laws and regulations currently under way in India would affect the people and environment. An objective discussion amongst people involved in the various aspects of environmental conservation and protection of human rights to cull out practical impediments to protect environment through existing system including the legal framework and come out with plausible strategies, solutions and alternatives to overcome these. With this in mind, as an initial step, Environmental Justice Initiative of Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) is organizing a three-day national consultation on environment and law on 28th to 30th of April 2006 at Mumbai with the following primary objectives;

1.Facilitating a productive discussion and experience sharing among Activists, lawyers and other concerned citizens on the issues concerning environment, human rights and law in India
2.To identify problem areas and lacunae in the legal system and formulate strategies to manage these short comings
3.Evaluate the existing and emerging laws and regulations in the light of past experience
4.Foster a national network of environmentally conscious people concerned against destructive development.

You may checkout the draft programme schedule here http://www.geocities.com/envirorights/NCEL/NCEL_PS.htm

Interested participants may please respond to eji[at]ichrl.org in the following format before 10th April 2006

With warm regards
Dr PR Arun, Senior Officer (Environmental Rights),
India Centre for Human Rights and Law, Mumbai. 400 009

NATIONAL CONSULTATION ON Environment Humanrights and Law
April 28-30, 2006
Mumbai

APPLICATION FORM (Participant)

1. Name of the Applicant:
2. Educational Qualification :
3. Designation :
4. Organization & Address :
5. Address for Communication :
6. e-mail
7. Telephone:
8. Why are you interested to attend this consultation?

A Bizarre Makrand...

2006-03-27T13:55:00.000+05:30

Whew...its been an interesting two hours! Sitting under tree-shaded granite seating at Prithvis. Its a delight listening to Makrand Deshpande talk about theatre, Bollywood, art films and life in general.

Makrand could be defined as a multi-task expert, besides his association with theatre as a playwright, director and actor, he is equally well known and well-loved for his role in films like Swades, Lal Salam, Satya, Makdee, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro, etc. and his frequent appearances on the small screen.

For the past two days I have been persuading an interview with him. Today I was on the verge of giving up, and my frustrations led me to giving him a bad name on my blog. Until of course my mobile rang at 2 pm. We were all set to meet up by 3in the afternoon. Prior commitments, later made me shift our meeting to 3:30 which I did keep up to.

A very casual, serene, laid back Makrand sat there with his trademark unkept curly hair. He is known for his (half colored, half grayed) bushy locks, falling messily over his thin V-shaped face, already covered with a heavy moustache. Makrand was busy talking to his assistant and other theatre friends. Our table was filled with cigarette packets, mouth fresheners and empty tea cups. He immediatelyinvited me over. Upon seating I was asked if I would like a drink (soft of course) to which I gently refused. This was my second interview and I was uptight but Makrand unlike other Bollywood personalities came forth as a simple, unaffected, down to earth person.

I removed my brand new voice recorder, started explaining a little about blog life and the ball kept rolling from there....

Read Saakshi O. Juneja's Entire Interview with Makarand Deshpande

Workers Be Damned - The Akbarallys story

2006-03-27T13:51:00.000+05:30

It's appalling to see the treatment bestowed upon employees of big establishments here in Mumbai. Imagine you are on your way to work one morning; just to find out that your sole means of 'bread and butter' is snatched away from you...forever.... Extinct overnight!!

No intimation given, no prior warning....NO JOB anymore...What a shock!

This is the story that Akbarallys-Santacruz (Mumbai), has to tell. On Friday the 10th of February, the store all of a sudden decided to fasten its doors to the world.

For over a month, 40-permanent workers have been squatting outside the estranged shop. Unable to get over the untimely death of their second home; where they have spent over 30 years of their lives. Struggling day in and day out, to obtain some kind of justice.

Read the Entire Article by Saakshi O. Juneja

Film Clubs in Mumbai

2006-03-25T01:46:00.000+05:30

Miracles Film Club
Frequency : Occassional Weekdays at 6pm
Fee : Rs 2200 / year
Screenings at :
Ketnav Preview Theatre, 17 Union Park, Near Pali Hill Hotel, Khar (W)
And
NFDC, basement of Nehru Planetarium,Worli
Contact :
Pramod Prabhulkar
98200 88367
Miraclesfilm-club[at]rediffmail[dot]com

Cosmos Film Screenings
Frequency : One Film on Alternate Saturdays at 4pm
Fee : None
Screenings at :
Comet Media Foundation, 1st Floor, Topiwala Muncipal School, Topiwala Lane, Lamington Road (near Grant road Station)
Contact :
Indraneil Chakravarty
2382 1893

The India Film Club
Frequency : One film every Monday at 8pm except dry days :)
Fee : None
Screenings at :
The Ghetto, Breach Candy Road, Mahalaxmi
Contact :
Indiafilmclub[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]in

Mocha Film Club
Frequency : 4-5 short films on 1st Sunday of every month at 11:30am
Fee : Rs 100 cover charge at every event (includes a mocha shake)
Screenings at :
Bandra Mocha, Hill Road, Opp American Express Bakery
Contact :
CyrusDastur@rediffmail.com
2643 3098

Bimal Roy Memorial Film Club
Frequency : 2 films a month on weekends at 4:30pm
Fee : ???
Screenings at :
National College & Russian Cultural Centre
Contact :
2640 3041 (between 10am & 1pm)

Vikalp Screenings
Frequency : 1 or 2 films, 2nd Wednesday every month at 6:30pm
Fee : None but open to contributions
Screenings at :
Bhupen Gupta Bhawan, 85 Sayani Road, Prabhadevi
Contact :
Vikalpmumscreenings[at]yahoogroups[dot]com

Prabhat Chitra Mandal
Frequency : 2-3 Indian & Foreign Art Films a month
Fee : Rs.450 Annual
Screenings at :
YB Chavan Auditorium, Nariman Point
Contact :
2413 1918

Cine Society
Frequency : 1 English & 1 Indian Regional Language Film Every month - only classics
Fee : Rs.350 Annual
Screenings at :
NCPA, Nariman Point
Contact :
2382 4228

Mithibai Film Club
Frequency : 4 - 6 Films a month over 2 days
Fee : ?
Screenings at :
Mithibai College, Vile Parle (W)
Contact :
2818 4354 / 55

If you have info about any other film clubs in Bombay, please click on Comments & leave the info there. Thank you

Flamingoes at Sewri

2006-03-25T00:39:00.000+05:30

The sun had just risen and land breeze had given way to a soft cool sea breeze and in this virgin sunlight was great beauty amongst great harshness. Rusting fishing boats, factories and an oil refinery was a backdrop for a gift of nature - a light pink blanket of flamingos. A more skilled photographer would have typified this image better but alas my amateurish skills can bring you only this.
View Akshay's Photo Blog

Also check Amit Kulkarni's Photo Blog on the Flamingoes.

And if those beautiful descriptions have got you charged up to visit yourself, check out
Directions to Sewri-Mumbai's Flamingo Bay

Ash Birder Also says
The most important thing to remember is the tide timing. Flamingoes will be seen 2-3 hours before/ after high tide. Check this link for tide timings before you plan a trip.
http://www.mobilegeographics.com:81/locations/658.html

Shadow City - A Photo Feature on Dharavi

2006-03-24T15:18:00.000+05:30

Akshay has written a beautiful, sensitive article with illustrative photos taken in the area of Dharavi.

He has put a lot of effort inot the entire process & it shows.

Shadow City - A Look at Dharavi

Ramshackle corrugated tin, plywood, plastic, pukkah bricks, sheets of asbestos, sweat, toil, people and garbage make Dharavi, just like piles of earth, sand, clay and other materials make ant hills. Dharavi and many other slums like it are nothing but human ant colonies built by legions of our urban poor. They are places which are at the same time sombre, moving, joyful and interesting.

Push and pull factors bring people from our villages here everyday in search for something better. They settle here right under our apathetic eyes. But under the squalor is great spirit and ingenuity. I went looking for this spirit in this place most people refer to as 'Asia's largest slum' but I would prefer to call it the 'Heart of Mumbai'.

View the Entire article

Crossword Hutch Book Award 2005

2006-03-21T23:02:00.000+05:30

The Crossword Book Award was instituted in 1998 to identify & encourage Indian writers in English. In its first year, there was just one award for "English Fiction by an author of Indian Origin". It was won by I Allan Sealy for "The Everest Hotel"

Since last year, Hutch became a co-sponsor & this year 4 prizes were announced.
1. Popular choice - English Non Fiction (Hutch users to SMS votes)
2. English Fiction
3. English Non-Fiction
4. Indian Language Fiction Translation (into English)

The last 3 were each judged by a panel of 3 authors whose books weren't in the long list. The long lists were really long & the judges had a lot of reading to do.
Check out the long lists for English Fiction, Indian Language Fiction Translation, and a new category, English Non-Fiction which was exceptionally long with 59 books.

To be eligible the book had to be published between 1 sep 2004 & 31 Aug 2005.

The books were then narrowed to a shortlist :
English Fiction :
The Tiger Claw by Shauna Singh Baldwin
Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta
Surface by Siddharth Deb
The Radiance of Ashes by Cyrus Mistry
Magic Seeds by V S Naipaul
Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie.

The Award was won by Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie. Since he couldn't make it to the function, Mr Sriram called him on his cell in Italy and he thanked the crowd over the phone. It was an interesting experience. Rehaan Engineer then did an absolutely brilliant reading from a chapter of the book.

Indian Language Fiction Translation :
A Dying Banyan by Manzoor Ahtesham (translator Kuldip Singh)
Sangati by Bama (translator Lakshmi Holmstrom)
After Kurukshetra by Mahasweta Devi (translator Anjum Katyal)
The Unspoken Curse by V K Madhavan Kutty (translator Prema Jaya Kumar)
The Survivors by Gurudial Singh (translator Rana Nayar)
The Heart Has Its Reasons by Krishna Sobti (translator Reema Anand and Meenakshi Swami).

The award was won by The Heart Has Its Reasons and it was a pleasure to hear from Krishna Sobti herself on the book. She did make a point that most Indian Regional Language writers write brilliant stories but they do not have enough readership. Translation seems to be in order but a lot of the flavor does get missed out. Kitu Gidwani read out a passage from this book.

English Non-Fiction :
One Hundred Years, One Hunderd Voices' by Meena Menon and Neera Adarkar
Pundits from Pakistan: On Tour with India 2003-04 by Rahul Bhattacharya
Finding Forgotton Cities: How the Indus Civilisation was Discovered by Nayanjot Lahiri
Maximum City by Suketu Mehta
Didi: My Mother's Voice by Ira Pande
Chasing the Monk's Shadow: A journey in the footsteps of Xuanzang by Mishi Saran.

While Rahul Bhattacharya won the Popular choice for Pundits from Pakistan he attributed it to his friends who must have been busy sedning sms as long as the contest was open and thanked them for it. The jury awarded Maximum City by Suketu Mehta the top honors and Anahita Oberoi did a reading from this book.

Gossip Factor:
Held at the wonderful environs of the Discovery of India building at the Nehru Centre.
Chips, Veg rolls, cold drinks & coffee/tea were being served.
All the nominated authors of the non-fiction category were present. Other authors included Rana Dasgupta, Cyrus Mistry, Prema Jaya Kumar, Krishna Sobti & Reema Anand.
All the nominees received a certificate and a commemmorative award.
Winners received an award, cheque for 3 lakhs (to be spilt equally among translators or co-authors) and a citation.
All the nominated books were placed on sale at the location.
Book signings were close to impossible because of the media cameras around.
Seema Sehgal sang beautifully incorporating some profound poetry in her renditions.
Anahita Oberoi's blouse had a non existent back. It was held together by a slim thread.
Dandeep Das Deputy MD of Hutch said some beautiful words. I can't call it a speech because it was so touching, heartfelt & natural. It was a one sided conversation with the audience where he took us through how, which books influenced him at each stage of his life and in what way. They were books most in the audience had read and could identify with. Beautiful rendition.
There were 3 women in self colored crepe sarees who kept flitting around preceding and following every person who was called on stage up & down the stairs. It was very distracting and unnecessary. As someone remarked, this was not a "Miss India competition" The one area they could have helped out in, they ignored - lending a helping hand to the authors who found the steps difficult to navigate.
Crossword distributed a compilation of excerpts from all the shortlisted books. a wonderful collector's item, amazing business strategy (after reading excerpts, I'm already planning to buy a couple of the books) and a great memento of the event.

Had the most boorish woman in the world seated in front of me. She could not keep her trap shut for more than a minute. She was constantly cribbing about non issues. She rested her feet on the seat in front of her which fortunately was empty or kept them up on her own. Before the program started, she yelled at her poor husband who was seated 4 seats away about how he never takes things down and his memory is so bad and he should write things down like she had told him a million times before. Since there were 4 people between the 2, she was speaking loud enough for min 5 rows on all sides to hear her tirade. Was sorely tempted to whack her on the head. She spoilt the entire experience for all around her. If you come for a book award, of course there is going to be some book reading involved. If you don't have basic decency and courtesy maybe you should stay at home is what I wanted to tell her but followed Gandhi's principles of ahimsa & non violence so kept it to myself. :)

Cuppa Cafe

2006-03-19T23:30:00.000+05:30

Cuppa Cafe
Crystal Plaza
New Link Road
Opp Fame Adlabs
Bombay 400 058
Free Delivery 2674 2371 / 72

Read the Review here

Anurag Kashyap's workshop & "GULAL"

2006-03-19T22:11:00.000+05:30

Late Saturday evening, saw an event listing on Ryze

Satya, Shool , Nayak, Yuva.... and Black Friday
You have loved the movies, Now meet the man...
BAISCOPE ENTERTAINMENT
presents
a workshop * by writer - director ANURAG KASHYAP
on
Sunday, March 19, 2006, at 3pm
at 5th floor, Fun Republic, Andheri (W)
Entry fee: Rs 100/- per person (for non members)
Rs 20/- per person (for members)

Well, because of problems with the Censor board & then the Supreme court, I haven't had the chance to watch Black Friday, but I do own a copy of its audio casette, since music was done by "Indian Ocean" another favorite of mine. But, I digress.

As I was saying before, I am a huge fan of Anurag Kashyap's acting. Yes, he acts in theatre. Mainly with Makarand Deshpande's troupe "Ankh"

With the cast of Sir Sir Sarla III

So although I had never heard about BAIScope before, my interest was piqued and off I trooped to Fun Republic on Sunday evening.

After a harrowing expedition all over the complex, up & down escalators, elevators and stairs, gathering more lost souls along the way, we all finally found our way to the special screening theatre on the 7th floor with a rear gate entry.

The session started a little late, but most didnt mind since the setting was informal & kinda cosy. The special screening theatre has its own mini concession stand which will serve you at your seat inside, once you place an order. The theatre seats about 100 or so, I think.

baiscope then proceded to introduce themselves as an NGO for the film fraternity. Their initial endeavour is to provide a platform for interaction and information for budding actors, directors, script writers, anyone who is trying to get a foot in the door in films and media. the core group consists of some energetic young members from every range in the media spectrum. From CNBC to ad agencies and onwards. This was their first public event, so maybe I will have more info on them in future.

Anurag was then given centre stage. He introduced himself saying that he had made 2.8 films. "Paanch" which was scuttled by the Censors. "Black Friday" which was halted by the Supreme Court and "Gulal" which is currently under production.

He started out by showing us the raw version of "Gulal" his new film. I have never watched a Raw Version before and it gave me huge appreciation of the reason that there are seperate Oscars for Sound editing, Film editing & Sound Mixing.
In a raw version the colors are bad, the sound track goes all over the place. When characters talk loudly or shout, it results in screeching effects and so on.

Inspite of all this, the story line was interesting and quite gripping as it progressed. Having learnt from previous experience, he has now set his film in the future. With the breakdown of the government & democracy, the maharaja's in Rajasthan are trying to wrest control back to form the princely state of Rajputana. The movie is a simple love story set against this backdrop.

We just watched a section of the film, but it was enough to whet our appetites for its release. There is some brilliant music with excellent lyrics including some incredible poetry woven into the story line.

The floor was now open to questions which flew thick, fast & furiously. What emerged was that the man himself was a sensitive soul with strong views and the courage & conviction in his beliefs which helped keep him going through all adversities. Some of the most interesting things he said over the evening were :
"The struggle is not to make it to a producer or to find a star or to tell a story, the struggle is in your head."
"You have to be willing to risk everything"
"Only when you have lost everything, then can something good come out"
"MF Hussain can express his art anyway he likes because he uses his time, his supplies, his creativity, his money. A director is responsible to the people who lend him the money to make his film and he needs to keep their sensibilities and viewpoints in mind too"

One of the few interesting individuals I have had the pleasure of interacting with recently. He clearly knows what he wants & is not afraid to do what is necessary to get there. I do hope that "Gulal" is released properly in India so that the country gets a chance to see what a great Director he is and listen to the wonderful stories that he has to tell.

Now, I've to go find me a copy of "Black Friday" or maybe attend an International Film Festival where it is being screened.

Support for Anurag on the blogosphere:
http://easyreview.blogspot.com/2005/10/black-friday-haunting.html
http://crossstyx.blogspot.com/2005/06/black-friday-director-anurag-kashyap.html
http://middlestage.blogspot.com/2005/04/waiting-for-black-friday.html

Opening of Fluid Spice

2006-03-18T04:27:00.000+05:30

Attended the opening of Fluid Spice.
2nd Floor
Mohid Heights
Next to Andheri RTO
Opp Mandke Hospital
Lokhandwala Complex Road
Andheri (W)

It was combined with some kind of party for Sony's Friday night BIG 4 line up. I think they r Kandly Floss, Fear Factor & something else. Waiters were all wearing Fear Factor T-shirts & the entire Sony set of actors were there. Including the cast of Jassi & meri life hain The cast of CID looked as sullen and expressionless as they do in their promos that I've seen on AXN. Don't know how they actually "act" but guessing, its fairly similar. Gimme CSI anyday regular, Miami or New York. Even the History Channel has a good line up of detection based real cases which are excellent. I'm an NYPD blue, Special Victims Unit fan, so its better I don't watch the watered down hindi versions.

Gossip quotient : well I couldn't recognise too many of the actors or actresses (from anything other than the attitude they give off to lesser mortals.) except Archana Puran Singh & Parmeeth Sethi and Apoorva Agnihotri & Shilpa Saklani (the previous jodi was a favourite on "Nach Baliye" Jassi was there and spent the night dancing with Nandu. Has she broken up with that Band of Boys guy ?

The most spicy bit of speculation came from......
Jassi (Mona whatever) was standing hardly 15 metres from the entry door (the inital room with the bar is a long corridor with the bar running down its length. The disc & DJ area is a larger room that comnnects to the bar) Armaan Sir entered with wife (who has finally got rid of those armpit-to-fingertips red bangles she used to wear earlier, which looked obnoxious with most western outfits that she prefers) and there was a huge, really huge, hi hello commotion for them when they entered. Jassi who was backing the door, did not even bother to turn around. Although most people in the little group she was talking to started frantically waving their hi's & signalling them to come over to be mwah mwahed. She walked away for a bit. Then once the inital commotion was over she came back gave a perfunctory hug to armaan for the ever waiting cameras , snubbed the wife & walked off.

Inferences:

Either Jassi is threatened by Armaan. Larger fan base/better acting/successful marriage/better looking/better career.... (fill in your own reason here, I'm sure u read enough gossip columns)
Theres something brewing between the 2 & they don't want it known in public.
The 2 are mortal enemies in the fight for eyeballs.

Food was good. Good variety of snacks for non vegetarians. I think there were only 2 varieties of veg stuff. Open bar as mandatory. (Someone told me at a recent VH1 party, they had to pay for drinks) Good open, well lit layout for dinner in an adjoining room. Reasonably tasty food. Although the tiramisu was more like one from a punjabi kitchen than an Italian one.

Can't comment on pricing. But guess Fluid Spice will do quite well. Given its proximity to the Balaji, SAB & other TV Factories and tons of bored actors/actresses looking for a place to unwind after work. PArty went on till the wee hours inspite of a friendly visit from the neighbourhood mamus at midnight.

Britannia & Co, Bombay - Berry Pulao and Good Parsi Food

2006-03-17T16:11:00.000+05:30

"Mildew-covered strange old buildings", are the words that come to mind each time I'm in Ballard Estate. The reason for today's visit - food, more specifically a type of food , even more specifically a restaurant and to be honest one particular dish - Berry Pulao . What am I talking about you say ? - good ole' Britannia of course. At the corner of this hugely commanding wonder of oxidation, the War Memorial and opposite New Customs House, where "new" is a tag the building has long grown out of is "Britannia & Co - ." A restaurant whose philosophy is "There is no love greater than the love of eating," puts everything into perspective for me, another self affirming moment in my short life.

Even though you count the Parsi joints in Bombay[well in India] on your fingers, Edward VIII, Ideal Corner, Jimmy Boy, Paradise, Piccolo just to name a few, but out of all these places Britannia & Co is pretty special. I'm not taking about their fabulous Dhansak which I would count as the best dhansak I've ever eaten after Dorabjee's Poona of course - it's their Berry Pulao. A dish that makes them unique. As BusyBee famously said, "If it's Berry Pulao, it must be Britannia."

Britannia and Company Restaurant,
Wakefield House,
11 Sprott Road,
16, Ballar Estate (Pier);
(91-22) 22615264.
Open for lunch, snacks and drinks
Monday through Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., but lunch only 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Closed Sunday.
No reservations or credit cards.

Read the Entire Photoblog here

A Birding trip to Dandeli

2006-03-17T14:09:00.000+05:30

Ritesh rcently went on an unscheduled, unplanned birding trip to Dandeli. This is a write-up of his travel, the birds he saw and some AMAZING pictures.

You can take the trip too. Read Ritesh's write-up for helpful hints & details