Resistance is futile

It’s the second time I’ve been tagged for this one, first by Chandni and then by Anasuya and the latter is family so I can hardly refuse.

I’ve decided to go ahead and inflict the personal and the self-indulgent on you. So here’s the tag:

Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given (family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like). Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better.

Family: Now, this is tough because some time back, I moved / removed most of the personal posts from this blog but here’s what still remains — On Calcutta summers and something on Netaji.

Friend: This one’s easy. There’s Esther, Hajira, and Rita in Deorali, Jaigaon — all women I met during my travels and may never see again but who have affected and influenced me in various ways.

Myself: Ah…do this and this count?

My love: What fun! There’s chick flicks, beer, and my beloved city.

Anything I like: On sexism and Internet purdah and a piece on one of my favourite movies, Maurice.

And I tag OJ who I adore, Iz whose writing is both funny and heartbreaking, Falstaff who I regularly argue with on the blogosphere and who probably doesn’t do tags, and new blog friends Pongam and IndieQuill.

Shiny, happy things

So the Toto Awards 2008 were announced ten days back. And I was one of the two winners in the creative writing category. Quite cheered up my month.

Besides a trophy and plaque, there’s a neat cash prize of 25k but what I like most is that one of the judges was Keki Daruwalla (the others being Gita Hariharan and Ravi Singh of Penguin). His approbation can only be a good thing. Also, Amitav Ghosh was there to present the awards and meeting him was fantastic.

Some of the poems I entered are here.

Jane Eyre, power shift and the other mad woman

The mood for period drama struck some time last week and I satisfied it by watching the 1983 BBC miniseries version of Jane Eyre starring Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke. Independence is a pivotal theme in Jane Eyre and each reading/watching leads to thoughts on this. Bronte’s concern with this is clear right from the beginning but comes into sharp focus when Jane leaves Thornfield Hall after her marriage to Rochester is abruptly called off. She has to leave him because staying would be contrary to her code of ethics. She sets off into the world with only a few coins and no job. One can only imagine how bereft and alone she must feel at this point.

On East Coast Road and melancholy seas

Last month, we took a drive down to East Coast Road. As a day trip. Yes, I am aware it sounds faintly ridiculous that we drove all the way from Bangalore to ECR and came back the same day but there were extenuating circumstances. It was one of those spur-of-the-moment urges to hit the road and keep driving. I had a longing for the sea. And there was nowhere we could leave our dog at such short notice. So we decided to pile into the car and drive towards Mahabalipuram and drive back when we were done with the drive and the road and the sea.

More on Gieve Patel and poetry

Some of us had dinner with Gieve when he was in town and the discussion, predictably, revolved around poetry. Poetry is always difficult to talk about — so much of it is subjective and it’s difficult to exactly pinpoint what the elements of a good poem are. Some say sound; the words should resonate when read aloud. Others say meaning; whole universes of truth must be contained in a single line. Honesty, original imagery, innovative use of language…there are so many aspects to a good (a hopelessly banal word but it will have to do) poem.

Gieve Patel and poetry with young people

Originally published in The Hindu.

“Poetry may be the most misunderstood of genres among the arts.” So says poet and plawright Gieve Patel in his introduction to Poetry with Young People (Sahitya Academi, Rs 100), an anthology introduced and edited by him. Featuring over a hundred poems written during Patel’s workshops at Rishi Valley School over the last decade, the anthology is emblematic of his success in demystifying this misunderstood art.

Hiatus

The truth is I’m a little bored of blogging. I just don’t have the urge to say anything in this particular space any more. I thought reinvention would help but it hasn’t. Hopefully, this is temporary. So, until later.

UPDATE: Okay, that didn’t last long. About ten days.

Online identity and faint pencil lines

A few days ago, I changed the look and feel of this blog and didn’t explain it. The change had a lot to do with drawing lines between personal and public selves and explaining my motives, I felt, would be counterproductive. I’ve changed my mind since then because this whole business of drawing lines is quite fluid really. One is constantly tripping over them and adjusting them and so on. I also want to talk about this because there’s been some discussion about different aspects of online identity in the blogosphere lately, here and here.

The Next Episode and solitary pleasures

Is it just me or does anyone else find Nokia’s “the next episode is about to begin” commercial a bit disturbing? I mean, it’s really slick and artistic with all these staccato images, a Philip Glass song in the background and a voice-over that alternates between sounding like George Clooney and Brad Pitt, but I have this sudden, mean urge to switch off the TV when it comes on.

Resisting Coastal Invasions

Whose sea is it anyway? The question begs an answer. Increasingly, the coast is under threat from industries like sand mining, tourism and organized fisheries which erode the rich ecosystem and threaten the rights of traditional fishing communities. The only piece of legislation that stands between these forces and the sea is the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification of 1991 which regulates industrial and commercial activity on the coasts. Since its institution, the CRZ notification has been violated or diluted several times and in the wake of globalization, is being viewed as an obstacle to ‘development’.