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Showing posts from 2015

Royal Bengal Tiger - Bring Back the Roar

Many of us were introduced to limericks with this verse: There was a young lady of Riga, Who rode with a smile on a tiger.     They returned from the ride     With the lady inside And the smile on the face of the tiger. Those of us who studied literature and even those of us who did not are probably familiar with William Blake's poem The Tyger : Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? Will H. Drake, logo and illustrations for   Kipling's   story " Tiger! Tiger! ".   St. Nicholas Magazine ,   February   1894 . (Public Domain) We find mentions of tiger all over arts and literature. Ruskin Bond's stories from the jungles are incomplete without a prowling tiger. Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book features a tiger Sher Khan as the ultimate villain with malice in its heart. Short Stories such as Mrs Packeltide's Tiger trivialize the killing of the magnificent beast to induce a l

Literary event to look forward to - Readomania #TalkFest

For as long as I can remember, I have held this belief that while science and technology are the body of a society, arts and literature are its soul. No society can progress holistically if both the aspects of its being do not evolve in sync with each other.  For the longest time, there was a lull as far as literature is concerned, or perhaps I was oblivious of what was happening in the society. But recently there has been a surge in literary activities. My organization Literature Studio is just one such organization trying to make a difference. There are many others. The good part is the peaceful co-existence.  One prominent organization that is doing good work in this field is Readomania . The organization is run by the very dynamic and inspiring Dipankar, and is a literary brand with interests in e-library for fiction and poetry, publishing – digital and print, literary products and events. Readomania’s online avatar has a membership of 10000+ literary enthusiasts and boasts o

Tiger Tales from Ranthambore || Ustad (T-24) - The Tragic Hero

We visited Ranthambore in May 2014. Back then T-24, or Ustad, still roamed the jungle. Forest authorities were fiercely protective of the tiger even though he had already been blamed for the death of three people by then. "He is NOT a man-eater!" countered Mr. Yogendra Kumar Sahu (the Conservator of Forest & Field Director), when one of our fellow bloggers referred to T-24 as one. And from what we had heard from the people who work in the jungle, the safari guides and forest officers, everyone was in awe of this magnificent beast. "I saw T-24 today," someone who had chanced upon the tiger would proudly proclaim. The tone was that of pride and respect. There was no sign of any hatred or indifference anywhere. We felt reassured that tigers, including the ones that are more tigerly than the others, were safe in Ranthambore. During our entire trip, though we weren't fortunate enough to sight T-24, its presence loomed large on our breakfast discussions, our s

Step back and make way. They are equal citizens of Earth.

"These creatures require our absence to survive, not our help. And if we could only step aside and trust in nature, life will find a way," says John Hammond, in The Lost World .  He was talking about the dinosaurs, but this is sane advice for almost all conservation efforts today. Last week, I had my friend Kathi over for lunch and we ended up talking about her house in Colorado. On her last visit, she was sitting by the window, writing. She looks up and sees a black bear looking at her through the window. Perhaps the bear was hungry or just curious. Kathi didn't have the opportunity to find out. She stood very still and the bear eventually just strolled away. None of them bothered the other. There was mutual respect, or so I would like to believe. It was a thrilling episode, scary but one that she will remember for the rest of her life. I want to have such encounters too (but only the ones that do not end in me being eaten), while staying in the city. And conside

Book Review: Yashodhara Lal's "There's Something About You"

There's Something About You is Yashodhara Lal's third book after Just Married, Please Excuse and Sorting Out Sid , and what we can definitely say about the author is that it is very difficult to typecast her work. In each book she's tried something new. While the first book is inspired by her own experiences of her marriage, the second book sets out on a different tangent altogether - Sorting Out Sid is told from the point of view of a male character and is essentially his coming-of-age story. This third book is again something she has never attempted before - it is a story of a woman in her late twenties with familiar concerns such as career, marriage, a negative body image, and such. Though There's Something About You is positioned as a romance novel, the male lead does not even make an entry for the first 9 chapters. And I find this very interesting because the author is able to draw us in so well that we almost don't miss the hero.  In the very first ch

Raid the Bookstore : Quill and Canvas, South Point Mall, Gurgaon

Bookstores are a threatened lot. Not only are small bookstores suffering, even the larger chains are struggling to stay afloat. It isn't that people aren't buying books. It is just that online shops often offer better deals and many books are available as e-books. It makes buying books more affordable and convenient. I am in favor of e-books, especially because I am also passionate about nature, and e-books play a huge role in saving paper. But at the same time, I am a romantic when it comes to books and bookstores and I hate to see bookstores closing down and those that are braving it all, struggling to stay afloat. Running a bookstore in today's world requires passion and persistence. And individuals who invest in bookstores need to be applauded and deserve all our support. Back to Bookstores is just one such attempt to extend our support to bookstores. This is a group of passionate book lovers, who cherish the times when visiting a bookstore to buy books was a n

The Day that Made the Journey Happier

My family (my father is the one with the gray shawl) Ever since I started my creative writing venture, the journey has been full of ups and downs emotionally. It is like bringing up a baby. You are protective, proud, and worried for your venture, and things like one deal not working out or one not-so-positive feedback can make you feel like a complete failure. Above everything, there's this fear of letting down your venture. So, as I said earlier, it is a very emotional journey, but it was made even tougher by the fact that my father was never completely comfortable with me leaving my high-paying IT job and taking on a much tougher fight. Till recently, he would mention it every now and then, and would even go to the extent of circling some IT jobs in the Situation Vacant section of newspaper. I have been really close to him and have always felt that he is the person I love the most. So though I never admitted this to him, the fact that he wasn't really beside me in my fig