August 13, 2010
August 11, 2010
August 6, 2010
August 5, 2010
In whatever kind of a “race” life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist.- By Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens is a Vanity Fair contributing editor. Here is a read from his 'First Person' column of Vanity Fair's Culture where he speaks about his discovery of cancer.
Topic of Cancer
One fine June day, the author is launching his best-selling memoir, Hitch-22. The next, he’s throwing up backstage at The Daily Show, in a brief bout of denial, before entering the unfamiliar country—with its egalitarian spirit, martial metaphors, and hard bargains of people who have cancer.
Read more...
Topic of Cancer
One fine June day, the author is launching his best-selling memoir, Hitch-22. The next, he’s throwing up backstage at The Daily Show, in a brief bout of denial, before entering the unfamiliar country—with its egalitarian spirit, martial metaphors, and hard bargains of people who have cancer.
Read more...
Mirza Ghalib – A biographical Scenario by Gulzar
I happened to chance upon this beautiful book last evening while i was spending time at a bookshop. Absolutely captivating so much so I was just unable to drop the book for a moment. almost spent a couple of hours at the store reading it and another hour at the hair dresser....still reading it!!! A collectors item in my opinion.
Here is a small write-up by Anuradha Goyal where she describes the synopsis of the read. This was written in 2007.
This is not a typical biography that traces the life and time of Ghalib, but a more poetic anthology, a few defining scenes of his life that give a jest of what Ghalib was. It has 17 chapters or 17 scenes. Book describes a bit of his childhood and his marriage to Umrao Jaan, who remained his only wife all his life, His relationship with her and the faith that she had put in him. They never agreed on their views on many things, most prominent being religion and its rituals, but they still had all the love and faith for each other.
It traces the situations in his that lead him to say most of his famous couplets. Without describing him, it etches out the character of Ghalib very well, who was a drunkard and a gambler all his life and never felt apologetic about it. He lived most of his life in debt. He knew he is a poet and he would not do anything else. He knew he deserved to be the poet laureate of Delhi, and he would not take any other position but that in the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar. He is eccentric, knows this fact, he not only accepts this fact but also enjoys it.
It talks about the courtesan who falls in love with him. She is the only one who predicts that one day he would be Dilli’s poet laureate. When people say he is in debt, she says’ what about the debt that the whole Dilli owes him?’ Ghalib also promises to gift her a shawl if that happened and a series of events take him to her grave, where he presents her the promised shawl.
The whole book is interspersed with poetry in Urdu and translated in English. There is context setting, followed by the couplets and if you understand Urdu a bit, you can simply get lost in the romanticism of the poetry and in his way with the words (andaz-e-bayan), in his ability to question everyone and everything. For example, he would not say that ‘my heart is crying’, but he would say ‘why should my heart not cry?’
Gulzar calls himself the third servant of Ghalib, two others are mentioned across the book and formed an important part of the portrayal of the poet. An easy to read small book, a good reading for anyone who admires or appreciates Urdu poetry.
Read the review @mouthshut
This is where you can buy the book:
Rediff Shopping
Infibeam.com
Here is a small write-up by Anuradha Goyal where she describes the synopsis of the read. This was written in 2007.
This is not a typical biography that traces the life and time of Ghalib, but a more poetic anthology, a few defining scenes of his life that give a jest of what Ghalib was. It has 17 chapters or 17 scenes. Book describes a bit of his childhood and his marriage to Umrao Jaan, who remained his only wife all his life, His relationship with her and the faith that she had put in him. They never agreed on their views on many things, most prominent being religion and its rituals, but they still had all the love and faith for each other.
It traces the situations in his that lead him to say most of his famous couplets. Without describing him, it etches out the character of Ghalib very well, who was a drunkard and a gambler all his life and never felt apologetic about it. He lived most of his life in debt. He knew he is a poet and he would not do anything else. He knew he deserved to be the poet laureate of Delhi, and he would not take any other position but that in the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar. He is eccentric, knows this fact, he not only accepts this fact but also enjoys it.
It talks about the courtesan who falls in love with him. She is the only one who predicts that one day he would be Dilli’s poet laureate. When people say he is in debt, she says’ what about the debt that the whole Dilli owes him?’ Ghalib also promises to gift her a shawl if that happened and a series of events take him to her grave, where he presents her the promised shawl.
The whole book is interspersed with poetry in Urdu and translated in English. There is context setting, followed by the couplets and if you understand Urdu a bit, you can simply get lost in the romanticism of the poetry and in his way with the words (andaz-e-bayan), in his ability to question everyone and everything. For example, he would not say that ‘my heart is crying’, but he would say ‘why should my heart not cry?’
Gulzar calls himself the third servant of Ghalib, two others are mentioned across the book and formed an important part of the portrayal of the poet. An easy to read small book, a good reading for anyone who admires or appreciates Urdu poetry.
Read the review @mouthshut
This is where you can buy the book:
Rediff Shopping
Infibeam.com
August 4, 2010
Some mobile uploads...
These are a few picture I clicked on my mobile in the last few months.
Thanks to 'Once upon a teacup story' and her lil write-up on 'Over a cup of tea- feeling blue' I felt like posting this image of my balcony which I clicked some 3 months back.
Around the same time Satya and me picked up a set of interesting beer glasses which we pull out when we have some special beer drinking friends over.
Already into mid wednesday and soon it will be party time again... :)
Thanks to 'Once upon a teacup story' and her lil write-up on 'Over a cup of tea- feeling blue' I felt like posting this image of my balcony which I clicked some 3 months back.
Around the same time Satya and me picked up a set of interesting beer glasses which we pull out when we have some special beer drinking friends over.
Already into mid wednesday and soon it will be party time again... :)
Acrylic on canvas-2: Habitat
This is my second painting in the current series. I have named it habitat. This is the stage just before the larger responsibilities in life hit us (my earlier painting post is the stage post this). Life is full of freshness, fertility and aspirations which know no bound. Tried to bring out this feeling with my colours.
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| Habitat- August 2010 |
August 3, 2010
Acrylic on canvas
One of my first painting after almost 2 decades. Plan to finish a series of them by September end.
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| Inspired by "mother & child", Acrylic on canvas, July 2010 |
Saffron and Silk: Tabletop Tuesday
Sharing a peek into a fellow bloggers home. This is what I call contemporary...
Saffron and Silk: Tabletop Tuesday: "Today I am linking up with Patty of Colours Dekor for Tabletop August! Check out Patty's blog...its as colorful, cheerful and happy as she i..."
Saffron and Silk: Tabletop Tuesday: "Today I am linking up with Patty of Colours Dekor for Tabletop August! Check out Patty's blog...its as colorful, cheerful and happy as she i..."
My own Buddha Bar
have always been quiet intrigued by Buddha and its manifestations. Captured the latest addition of Buddha at home, my tranquil Budha corner...
August 2, 2010
Adi's creation
Adi has been working with building blocks for over 4 months now but his imagination is at its best. He was into stacking up blocks and calling them building for a long while but over the last couple of weeks he has begun demonstrating more creativity.
In addition Adi is also wanting to eat on his own, iron clothes and thanks to all the bug watching that we have begun doing he is extremely innovative with his friend 'Bugsy'. He calls the bugs 'kidah' as in bugs in Hindi and top top it all has words like 'ginni ginni karega' which is equivalent of the bugs movement in his words! :D Check him out in action...
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| Building with his blocks. |
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| The creation: Single & Double sofa set! |
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