Year: 2011

  • 6.00 am 16th February 2011

    Ear cracking thunder, jet airplanes screaming down at me on their changed flight path, the generator’s tractor like sound starting up as the power has gone and Tara’s tummy rumbling loudly from something funny she ate. Most ominously of all and definitely the loudest was the familiar ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ sound very near my left ear. The mozzies…

  • The National Gallery of Modern Art – The Sculpture Garden

    I am a frequent visitor. Usually I go with a particular exhibition in mind and walk straight to the ticketing office. Recently as a friend was caught up in Delhi traffic I had the opportunity to warm up in the sun and enjoy the beautiful sculpture garden at the entrance of the Museum which most of us walk…

  • Rape

    I am not alone in noticing the appalling frequency with which rape incidents are reported in the city and the country. Today in the Times of India I read an editorial, a part of which I am reproducing here, because it needs to be said: “FIGHT RAPE The spate of rape cases reported over the…

  • Flower girl

    In today’s India Times “16 year old raped by neighbour and two others” “Guard arrested for raping three year old in school” “Rape victim dies after self immolation” And that is just one day’s news   I came across her in the road yesterday and I was very taken by her hazel, doe-like eyes, the beautiful…

  • The vulnerability of Children in India

    I belong to a Campaign against Child Trafficking and a friend sent through this report the first paragraph of which I am reproducing here. “The State of Human Rights in India in 2010 NDIA: Democratic pretentions and administrative follies Introduction “It is true that too many children die from malnutrition each year in this country. Some…

  • The Pashmina

    We all love them and want them wrapped around us. Janet Rizvi and Monisha Ahmed have gone further and investigated their origins, their history and their production in a fascinating book called quite simply “Pashmina”. The wool comes from changthangi or pashmina goat, which is a special breed of goat found in the Himalayas in Pakistan and…

  • Mao loved books- The Jaipur Literature Festival 2011

    Apparently one side of his bed was taken with stacks of books so I bet he would have loved the festival…but then again perhaps not. Listening to Jon Halliday and Jung Chang talking about Mao was a  fascinating insight into a man who they wanted to investigate impartially and who after 12 years of research…

  • Republic Day 26th January 2011

    A grand celebration for the adoption of the Constitution and grandly done. They have been practising for weeks and we were happy to take our seats in the enclosure just as the President and the Prime Minister were drawing up behind a cavalry of proud horsemen. This year, unlike the last, the day was bright and clear and you could…

  • Freedom to March

    As a foreigner living in India I am often drawn to events or art which can illuminate some of the complex history of this very complicated land and so it was with considerable expectation that I visited the “The Freedom to March Exhibition” that is taking place at present in the Indira Ghandi National Centre for…

  • Amazing Anish

    Modern Art sometimes doesn’t do it for me or perhaps I just dont get it and so when an exhibition comes up and it is modern art I hum and I ho but eventually go ..prepared to take it all with a pinch of salt, wondering whether a friend’s analysis of Anish Kapoor’s work as Big Boys Toys hits the…