Even at seven months, I hadn’t quite been able to believe in this pregnancy. I don’t know how it is for other women, but for me it was never quite true, never really happening – and that was my way of protecting myself against another miscarriage.
Via snail mail, the news that Osians Literary Agency has been running from May this year and has signed its first set of writers, including Saeed Mirza, Omair Ahmad and Jaitirth Rao. Also journalists Sheela Reddy and Shailaja Bajpai for their first novels. Take a look at www.osians.com.
Email from Urban Voice:
As you might know we have already brought out two issues of Urban Voice, the literary magazine. Now the third issue is due… for which we seek contributions in the form of non-fiction, journalism, short fiction, plays and poetry for this issue. The underlining theme for this issue will be Writers and Cities… The pieces should be around 1,000 -1,500 words, though exceptions may be considered. More details at www.frogbooks.net
Email from the Seagull Foundation for the Arts:
Choice is a youth leadership programme that inspires and unearths young social entrepreneurs. As the first step towards this, Choice is offering internships to young people in alternative and non-profit organizations across the country, focusing on different aspects of development, from the environment to child abuse to alternative education to socially concerned theatre…All internships include a monthly stipend, and, if relocated to a different city, travel and accommodation costs. Choice is now looking for candidates for internship who are ideally:
·Between 18 and 25 years of age
·Enthusiastic, with the aptitude for working in an area of social concern
·Willing to relocate to another Indian metroLast date: December 31, 2007.
Contact: Bishan Samaddar
The Seagull Foundation for the Arts
26 Circus Avenue, Calcutta 700 017
E-mail: bishanATchoicemakers.org
We found this tiny kitten outside our kitchen window one morning last month. She had obviously been left there by someone who knew that we would try to find her a safe place to stay. I wish we could have given her a home ourselves, but there’s too much chaos Chez Nous right now, especially with a large dog, an assertive cat and a curious baby already in the house, and one more baby on the way. WSD has graciously taken Manasi in and given her a name and a place to stay until she finds a friendly home. Would you like to adopt this delightful two-month old kitten? If so, please mail me or contact WSD!
…after a long break. I have been preoccupied with many things:
- my mother’s recurrence of cancer, this time with metastasis beyond the abdomen. She is now on a stiff course of chemotherapy - she’s a brave lady.
- my beloved eight-year old dog, Whisky, has just had surgery for a spleenectomy.
- Desh hasn’t been well this month.
- and I had a fall three weeks ago. I fell on my back - and fortunately, nothing terrible happened except that I was left with an aching back and days of enforced rest - but what a scare it gave me.
*****
I wanted to link to this report about a theatrical performance by trained elephants.
And here is a story about dogs being worshipped in Nepal.
(thanks, Abodh)
Two films released recently received far less attention than they deserved. While both are classifiable as noirish thrillers, they as far removed from each other, in their treatments, as mofussil India and the glittering metropolis. Navdeep Singh’s debut feature film “Manorama Six Feet Under” is set in a back-of-beyond desert town in Rajasthan, while Sriram Raghavan’s “Johnny Gaddaar” is set in fast-track Mumbai. In the first, we’re unraveling a web of crime and intrigue alongside the unlikely amateur investigator, in the other, we’re watching how the murderer is going to cover his tracks. “Johnny Gaddaar” moves with thrilling speed, “Manorama” with thrilling slowness.
“Darlingji: The True Love Story of Nargis and Sunil Dutt” by Kishwar Desai
HarperCollins, Rs 395
Fifty years ago, when a 28-year old Sunil Dutt rushed to save Nargis from a fire that broke out on the sets of “Mother India”, the two actors – who were playing mother and son in Mehboob Khan’s 1957 epic – went on to fall in love and eventually marry. It became the best known “true love story” of the movies, alluded to and echoed as recently as in this year’s Diwali release, Farah Khan’s “Om Shanti Om” when Shahrukh (playing a junior actor) saves Deepika (playing the star female lead) from a circle of burning haystacks.
