The silence rings through the waist high weeds-green, dense and prickly. I am entangled in the vegetation and yet I walk forward. Thorns pierce through my socks as I brush off the pollen. A rash breaks out as my arms glow red, I know scratching will not help but I do not fight the stimuli. I have realised that in nature’s eye humans are an invasive species. A bulbul watches...

A peek into Experimenta 2006It was such a pleasant evening, away from my textbooks, at the cultural centre of a former super power, watching experimental movies. The USSR to most of my generation is ancient history and why not ? The Soviet Union ceased to exist in ’91. At the time I was merely 6-therefore my knowledge of the former Soviet Union and the cold war has been defined...

I leaned precariously on the red coarsely plastered length of wall that made up the front perimeter of the bus stop. A bespectacled man nudges his elbow into my upper torso as he turns the crumpled pages of his evening newspaper. I ignore him and look around me. People around me are engrossed in various activities; like my neighbour here - who is staring open mouthed at today’s...

"One, two, three, four, in, in, out", continues the series.Confused ? Disoriented ? So am I. Dance is not my cup of tea; come to think about it I have two pairs of left feet when it comes to prancing about with pre-synchronized body movements. Dance is immensely Darwinian, and disproves the fact that all men/women where created equal, for on the dance floor it boils down to...

I walked through the portals into a different realm, into a world old, forgotten, endangered but not lost. David Sassoon Library is one such building that emulates this feelings of time warp I seem to love. Wood panelled chambers littered with ancient, framed etchings of Bombay old and in the background played the cacophonous sound of Mumbai new. At first glance you get a...

Cross-posted on The Kala Ghoda GazetteAn additional sound resonated in the background as I walked past Capital Cinema. It wasn’t the usual cacophony of passing traffic or the buzz from the evening commuters walking to the station or even from the bunch of Jhunka Bharkar stalls that line the street peddling everything from Vada-pavs to Indian Chinese. What is that sound? Can...

This my friends is the last biriyani I eat [and will ever eat] at Lucky's Restaurant, Ferguson College Road, Pune.Not to mention the thirteen rupee crusty bread pudding they served.Aditya is the bearer of this bad news - they're closing down to make way for a shopping arcadeI'm officially depres...

- Yazad wonders where or what was the “Kala Ghoda” ?- Zigzackly reminds for the umpteen time - "The Literature and Writing Festival’s Flash Fiction and SMS Poetry close entries shortly".- Manisha tell us "how to get the most out of every event of every day of this festival"- I share some picture [as usual] and later on talk about the wonderful Heritage walk I volunteered for.-...

February comes and Mumbai and the pedestrian plaza around South Mumbai’s lively historic art district ‘Kala Ghoda’ comes alive to the tune of the Kala Ghoda Art Festival. The setting is marvellous, the crescent shaped plaza is nestled around an array of heritage buildings such as Elephantine College, the David Sassoon Library and the Watson Hotel.The Festival promises rich...