Feast for Thought

Last June this blog mentioned " The Story of Stuff ". The same presenter has come out with another video on The Story of Cap & Trade ahead of the Climate meet at Copenhagen. Host Annie Leonard introduces the "energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the "devils in the details" in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from what’s really required to tackle the climate crisis. If you’ve heard about cap and trade, but aren’t sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you." While on the subject - listen and pass on this message too (message from a 12 year old , delivered at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, which is now more relevant than ever).

Surendra's eloquence leaves me rather lump-throated. Methinks the entire nation has to find the right answers and respond to that kid satisfactorily. See the cartoon here

Does any other deity lend Himself to such devotee-specific imagination as, well, my Friend Ganesha? He happily takes whatever form one wishes to see Him in and has lent Himself benevolently to abundant variety in artistic 2-d / 3-d designs and forms. Image courtesy It's Ganesh Chaturthi this Sunday 23 Aug, and here's an offering to help remember Him when you are online. :) Try to list all the 16 words / names of everyone's favourite deity that you can make out in this picture (original artist unknown) Ganapati Bappa Moriya!

It's Krishna Jayanthi later this week. Here's a quiz (prepared for a local event) on the Lord and His doings. Hope you feel blessed enough to take the very simple challenge. :) 1. To whose ashram did Krishna and Balarama go for their education? 2. What is the name of Balarama's mother? 3. What is the Gurudakshina that their Guru wished from Krishna and Balarama? 4. Name Krishna's Conch. 5. Name the brothers who naughty Krishna released when He dragged the mortar to which Yasodha had tied Him. Whose sons were they? 6. Krishna had 16008 wives. Name at least four of them. 7. To whom did Sukha narrate the Bhagavatam? 8. Who was Krishna's BPL childhood friend - both his aliases, please? 9. What is the other name for Deepavali? 10. Krishna's favourite food items - name at least two. 11. The theme of India's biggest and oldest insurance company is a phrase from the Bhagavad Gita - which company? What is the phrase? 12. How many slokas altogether feature in the 18 ...

(continued from the previous post on recent Sangeet Natak Akademi winners ) L Heiramot Meitei (77), Thang-Ta , martial art of Manipur Birabar Sahoo (79), Gotipua , Orissa Hilda Mit Lepcha (53), Lepcha Music of Sikkim Catch more of the Gotipua dance form next week at Travel Jottings

The Sangeet Natak Academy awards for 2008 were given away last Tuesday, and over the last few days, the Akademi has strived to present the awardees' talents to the public. We enjoyed the rare treat, for treat it was! - at CCRT , one of the venues that was happily next door to us. These pictures convey only in a very small way the immense joy of watching talented performers who belie their age in the worship of their ageless art forms. Saroja Vaidyanathan (73) Bharatanatyam Ramani Ranjan Jena (68), Odissi Ramhari Das (56) Music for dance, Odissi Narasimhachariar (67) and Vasanthalakshmi (55), Kuchipudi B Sasikumar, (60), violin and Mannargudi Easwaran (62), Mridangam Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar (54), Hindustani vocal

Meals in India's households are incomplete without dollops of pickles - those special spicy side dishes that can easily lend a 'taste good' factor to the blandest course. At any given time, you're sure to find a few of the infinite varieties of lime, mango, gooseberry, garlic, ginger, tomato, tamarind... pickles in the larder of any home in India. (At this stage I feel it may be necessary to differentiate a pickled fruit - simple immersion in vinegar - from the spicy tropical preparations that belong to the class of chutneys and jams). The pickles are carefully prepared in bulk usually in summer or during the season of the particular fruit, and the jars stay in attendance day-in and day-out. Non-natives may not have heard of the nutmeg fruit, much less of nutmeg pickles. The species is available aplenty in Indonesia, Kerala in south India, Malaysia and a few other tropical regions. Thus far I was familiar with the potential use of only the inner parts of the fruit - t...

Want to see mangoes, smell mangoes, taste mangoes, feel mangoes, and hear (the slurp of) mangoes all day? Answer Mango quiz, write mango slogans, buy mangoes, pickles, and plenty of other products by the crateful? Look out for next year's Delhi Mango Festival . We were lucky to have made it in time for the Delhi Tourism's 3-day show July 3-5, at Pitampura Dilli Haat ), which more than made up for our sorely missed mango season in south India. ("what a harvest this year! you just missed it" was the refrain rammed into the ear all June when we holidayed in mango-rich Kerala) Rows and rows of the aam-yet-khaas (common, yet special) fruit in umpteen shades of green, yellow, orange & red - Chausa, Safeda / banganapalli, Neelam, Totapuri, Rumani, Sukul, Cipia, Rari, Fazli, Lalo, Malda (Bihar's best), Aish, Mithua, Ichakdhari, kachakdhari, Dinga, Haldi, Sensation, Sharda, Ramkela, Pusa Surya, Amrapalli, 'Tommy Atkins', Kesar, Maya, Ambika,Vishwanath, Shubh...

It was nice to wake up to some semblance of showers this morning, as the India Met Department continues to await a change in season as eagerly as the citizens of Delhi and elsewhere in India. Look up the Indian Monsoons If you are thinking - "Don't tell me even cows do not move out without the umbrella in Kerala", you may just be right... Whatever the etymology of 'monsoon', a bright, special someone-I-know aptly rebaptized this years's annual source of freshwater. And now - the mon-sooner or -later winds beckon. Here I go..., after all, better mon late than mon never! i am really, really, grateful to the mon late s for ensuring that June did not go by without seeing an entry in this beloved-to-owner page.

'Sense and simplicity' may be a home appliance multinational's by-line, but a couple of entrepreneurs, one of them a Sainik School, Kazhakootam alumnus, seem to have demonstrated it in much more real terms. "NEVER LET YOUR MOBILE GO OUT OF POWER" SUVIDHA ELECTRONICS has recently come out with the pencil battery Mobile Charger - "a product that can charge any Mobile Phone using 4 pencil batteries.... This device will ensure that your Mobile is never switched off, even while travelling and you need not worry about power source. It is economical, handy, and easy to use. If you are interested to purchase this product, it will be couriered to you at your destination. The cost per piece including courier charges is Rs.200 anywhere in India." (See Image and details of the product ) Kudos to the Kazhak spirit! Kudos also to the co-founder.

Why ever was I not down there with that kid? Here's another clipping - Dancing clothes-lines . If you have time, do watch! PS - Did you wonder at the initial action? I guess he wanted a more powerful shower?

Many of Delhi's roads are lined by the Indian laburnum trees ( Amaltas / golder Shower / Cassia fistula ) , which are in full bloom in all their yellow glory in May (as summer travels northwards). Behold them, and celebrate Vishu with every eyeful... More kanikonna / Indian laburnum / cassia posts here and here (Views from Dwarka, a Delhi suburb, May 16)

1. The index(ed) finger For 5 Thursdays we will be watching candidates and voters showing off their index finger. To make out a voter from a candidate - just note whether the finger is pointed upwards (the voter invokes the divine superpower) or sideways (a pot/kettle calling his fellow kettle/pot black) 2. King-makers are more powerful No candidate wants a decisive win. Everyone fondly hopes to 'play a major role post-poll' (aka king-making). Some perks of not being the major winner - - You can take on contracts for ministerships for 5 years at the end of which you have sufficient funds for your next campaign. - Someone else is wholly responsible - you can critisize and wash hands off at the drop of a hat 3. Former speaker's Instructional Stint Somenath Chatterjee is scheduled to open a different kind of 'Electoral College' to school old, new and rogue MPs. The syllabus will cover - How to speak from the Well - How to allow an MP to have his / her say - How to pa...

If you think of the political scene in our country, over and above despair, the query ITNA (Is There No Alternative) invariably brings up the cliché 'TINA'. Perhaps we can now look forward to an immensely possible alternative. You'll find Hasan Suroor's explanation on exactly such an idea A Gandhian idea gets a British makeover extremely heartening - a change for the better is after all quite possible. In the UK there is a " high-profile campaign to reduce the dominance of organised political parties and provide a platform for citizens to contest elections as independent candidates ". Captain Gopinath of Air Deccan seems to have precisely these ideals when he decided to enter the election fray . One would like to think there's still time now for someone to put together the Indian equivalent of The Jury Team - Politics without Parties (started by Sir Paul Judge) (I realize I may have gone around in circles around this very same idea in these two posts - ...

Here's an opportunity for India's diplomatic corps to do something worthwhile for the country. Time to launch a diplomatic offensive and retrieve our treasures from the plunderers. Either that, or ensure that they remain in museums for public display. If one were to give in to emotions, news of auction of (plundered) colonial takeaways gives a rather sick feeling. Is there no one in the Empire who has a sense of right and wrong? Can't the Queen order the return of all things that were taken away for personal gain from one of her erstwhile colonies? They may have been intended as a victor's mementoes, but they should belong to the state, and remain as historical memorabilia, and not objects of personal greed, vanity or profit. One of probably eight gem-studded gold finials (a decorative attachment to a larger structure) from Tipu Sultan's throne is scheduled to be auctioned on the 2nd of April . A search leads one to a project called The Tiger and the Thistle that ...

The Mughal gardens at India's Presidential residence are open to the public for a few weeks in Feb-March every year. We were able to log a visit on Sunday, just a couple of days before Gate No 35 is closed. And now I attempt to describe the visual delights on offer without the right kind of pictures. That's right - being a VVIP enclosure, you are not allowed to carry the camera / mobile / handbag / car keys. (Good ideas of course for a proper, unencumbered stroll). Even my son's small notepad had to be deposited at entry. How to get there - Reach North Avenue in the Presidential Estates, then you'll find ample parking. Sufficient arrangements are available for visitors - lockers, lounge areas, waterholes (only water), first aid, a horticultural info stall. Herbal Garden - India's rich daily-use herbs basil, mint, fenugreek, ginger, garlic, asparagus and so many more , are well marked out. [If I had blindfolded my life-partner, he would have easily scored full mark...