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Malaccan moment The perfect ‘Discovery’ moment arrived soon after I landed in Melaka. The beautiful little, post-colonial city dotted with Churches, museum, an old city street with temples of all kind and Mosques, is a real delight. Having just few hours in hand to go around and explore the city, I found the cycle rickshaws, with a cover, floral decoration and even a Bhaja (music system) an ideal way to get my orientation. It is a bit steep at MR 40 for an hour – but I was lured in by the offer to play Hindi songs. From ‘kuch kuch hota hai’ to ‘sapney’ I did get a taste of Indian music and the rickshaw puller’s love of Bollywood and his favourite star Shah Rukh Khan. There I go on the streets of Melaka humming ‘vennilave vennilave…’. The Portuguese fort, l’amosa stands in ruins, amidst well manicured lawns and witnessing the retail revolution spring up in front – the local store of global chain Carrefour stands tall in front of the amosa. A few furlongs away from amosa stands...

I had no intention of following up on Gayatri Devi's death, for I had known very little about her apart from the constant reference being made to her as one of the world's most beautiful woman and a maharani. When I saw television channels following up on that for a second day, just commented "see because she was royalty and a beautiful woman that channels are still airing the news of her death". That is when my father brought up the subject of her having been a founder member of Rajaji's Swatantara Party. Exactly at that time NDTV announced that it is going to repeat Shekhar Gupta's, Walk the Talk with Maharani Gayatri Devi. "See, it is Shekhar Gupta's interview and she would definitely talk about Swatantra Party and Rajaji," my father said. "She hated Nehru's democratic socialism, was its critic and supported Rajaji." I found it interesting, for I knew not the keen interest Gayatri Devi had in politics, political thought. So, I sa...

For an uninitiated listener, her music was a simple tutorial. For someone whose knowledge of swaras were limited, her crystal clear rendering of sahityas was an entry point into the world of carnatic music. To begin with, it was not her music that drew me to D.K.Pattammal. The D in her initials was fascinating and brought me to close to her. Damal was her native village and it was the village my maternal grand father hailed. And her face and the underlying innocence and simplicity was just as my maternal grand mother. But once I was drawn into her music, the rest of the identities that drew me to her became irrelevant. Like so many Tamilians, my first introduction to D.K.Pattammal was through her famous songs in the movie 'Naam Iruvar'. “Aaduvome pally paaduvome” and “Vetri yettu thikkum yetta kottu murase” – the relationship with the writer (Bharatiyar) and the singer were made the day I heard them. From that day, somewhere in early seventies to date, I have continued to ...

“You’re the only writer in English, after RK Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand, to be Sahitya Akademi’s Fellows. What will you do with it? I don’t know, yet. Translations from bhasha into English. Could you influence a quality improvement there? I really wonder why those translations are done and who reads them. I don’t know if there is room for me to do anything. They have a board.” This is an excerpt from an interview with Anita Desai published in December last year. As a creator, Desai may not be happy with the level of translations available. Or maybe even with the idea of translation itself. Or with the quality of translations Sahitya Akademi publishes. Whatever may be her view, I still look for Sahitya Akademi translations. The little I know of writers like Masti, Basheer and a few other writers in regional languages has been through Akademi books I had bought at very low cost from at the annual book fairs in Chennai. One may never really be able to enjoy the beauty of a particular lang...

Bhairappa;s article - English version IT HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA (English translation of the article written by Kannada writer S. L. Byrappa on religious conversions. The article is translated by Shri. Manoj Deshpande)Saturday, November 1, 2008 http://medsyn.blogspot.com/2008/11/it-happens-only-in-india.html For the last four decades, Christian missionaries in India have been indulging in religious conversions and this trend has become fairly aggressive and far more pronounced with Sonia Gandhi’s coronation. However, the mass media have chosen to ignore reporting this. States like Orissa and Karnataka have reacted sharply to the scale of operations of Christian missionaries. This has been dutifully reported by all newspapers and TV channels across India. Self-proclaimed ‘Secularists’ and Left parties have taken this opportunity to announce that India has met its doom in this backlash and have thereby supported the missionaries! It is certainly a pity that they do not care to recognise th...

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/06/08/stories/2007060852190300.htm Masks of untruth Haven’t we been a culturally responsive society which enriched the creative consciousness of its literary and artistic community? Sadly, we now negotiate with a hegemonic socio-political order N. MANU CHAKRAVARTHY The mark of maturity and dignity of a society is when it conducts debates, cultural or political, with fierce conviction and intensity without slandering those involved in them. But it would not be quite out of place to offer a few examples of cultu ral debates to underline the relationship between art and social and political order The great writer Joseph Conrad was so committed to his vision of life that he declared quite vehemently that the works of Dostoevsky seemed like the barbaric howls of a prehistoric monster, and also went on to declare emphatically that there was not a single sincere line in the writings of Herman Melville. While none would endorse the views of Conrad, by no stretch of...

View of Great Rann of Kutch from the highest point in Bhuj district, Kaladungar hills. Down below in the white surface is the India bridge, the last civilian point before the desert spreads around to reach the neighbouring Pakistan.