Category Archives: culture

Timeless vs Real Time

If I were a book, you will put me in a book­shelf after you’ve read me. Later, I’ll prob­a­bly lie in an attic and find my way to a library. My life would span a few decades, or even more. If I’m excep­tion­ally good, I’ll be a time­less clas­sic.
If I were your per­sonal diary, I

Encouraging Superstition on TV

A few days back, I was watch­ing a children’s real­ity show on TV, Zee Saregamapa Lit­tle Champs. Young chil­dren sing and com­pete in this show, and there are two judges, one of whom is Ms. Alka Yagnik.

After one of the kids sung a song com­posed by Bappi Lahiri, Ms. Yag­nik said she had brought a

The Power Of One

A con­ver­sa­tion between a small girl (Scout) and her father (Atti­cus) from To Kill A Mock­ing­bird:
“Do you defend nig­gers, Atti­cus?” I asked him that evening.
“Of course I do. Don’t say nig­ger, Scout. That’s com­mon.”
“ ‘s what every­body at school says.”
“From now on it’ll be every­body less one.”

Religion vs. Gender Equality & Feminism

How do reli­gions treat women? How do eman­ci­pated women treat reli­gion? A sequence of events recently has made my mind unquiet over this sub­ject. Nita asked if Hin­duism was com­ing of age, with peo­ple per­form­ing the sacred ‘thread cer­e­mony’ on their daugh­ters. The BJP found itself trapped in the maze of con­fu­sion sur­round­ing Hin­dutva. And

A to Z of Films Meme (B)

[I may write a para­graph or two at the begin­ning of each post about some aspect of film-making, shar­ing thoughts, facts, or expe­ri­ences, etc. This may or may not be related to the films I write about.
Do feel free to com­ment on the films, my writ­ing, as well as rec­om­mend and dis­cuss other films. The more

Apartment Building Gate Sign in Pune, India

 

Bach­e­lors & For­eign­ers As Ten­ants Not Allowed”

Web Graveyard Update

I had recently mooted the con­cept of WebGraveyard.com, where your pres­ence in the online world will for­ever be pre­served, includ­ing your social net­work­ing pro­files, blogs, etc.
If any­one is yet not con­vinced this is a great idea, check out Online-Funeral.
Online Funeral allows mourn­ers to par­tic­i­pate in the funeral cer­e­mony via the Inter­net, and if their appoint­ment

Traffic Road Sign in Pune, India

Web Graveyard

Very few peo­ple I know blog about death. It is not a pleas­ant sub­ject, and essen­tially, one reads blogs to be happy. But let’s face it, death is very real. Though cyber­space was once known as the vir­tual world, it is becom­ing increas­ingly real, and the over­lap between online and offline is get­ting increas­ingly com­plex.
As

The Largest Pyramid Ever?

A grand idea, con­sid­ered improb­a­ble by most. Gain­ing pub­lic­ity last month, was the pro­posed plan of Ger­man entre­pre­neurs to build the world’s largest struc­ture — a pyra­mid shaped tomb to con­tain the remains of mil­lions of peo­ple of all faiths from all over the world.
The Friends of the Great Pyra­mid say:
The Great Pyra­mid can poten­tially