chia did it

all black clothes
perpetually blessed

with white fur

Capacity

The inaugural issue of DesiLit magazine is just out. It features my poem "Capacity". Read here.

Chia at the Jangpura parks

If you ever come across this gorgeous one and a half year old at the Jangpura parks, do spare a few minutes (or more) and join her in her gambols.

What is ggkiss?

A throaty, monster kiss. The kind you want to nuzzle down your lover's neck and hair. In the middle of the workday, with the dog -- to your left -- blissfully asleep on sheets and pillow in disarray.

Notes on the new house

D and I did up the house today, with prints, posters, paintings and assorted masks. The house is already so much more ours. A charasi Buddha A. and I had always tussled over (he insisting on putting up egg-yolk-whatsits his mommy had painted - apologies, aunty!! - if I ever mentioned this lovely old thing) serenely sits over the mantelpiece. This, now, is the shelf below the kitchen pass-through window which gives me kicks no end. The house even has - and this is what sold it to us - a foldup drinks bar! And it is open and spacious and has a third room S and I use as our writing space. So welcome aboard to this part of the journey, friends and comrades.

Blogspot banned by the govt of India?

And Typepad? Neha V's continually updated post on this here. Can you access either domain?

Just discovered -

yogabeans! YOUR INTERNET SOURCE FOR PLASTIC ACTION FIGURES DEMONSTRATING ASHTANGA YOGA

(How? Through google, of course. And the random science of hyperlinks.)

- and have not been able to stop (a) being fascinated, (b) laughing.

Archivists

It should be possible to eternally save
simple odes from simple boys
and those other buoyant sms-es
from lovers, friends and well-wishers
      on your phone
without the fear of
running out of space, or losing or damaging the instrument
or them otherwise giving in to mortality.

My feet

Hear ye, hear ye all friendly graffiti artists...

...in Delhi - I promise you a wall to paint red or the color you like, very soon, in the new digs. Dream up ideas.

Monday pre-lunch

I'm at the workplace already, instead of going first to the writing office Susan and I now share. Much writing may not happen this week:

(a) Am doing a photography workshop with Sunil Gupta and need to explore ideas visually (and know that I'm not a natural or an expert in the language of images, and some of my co-participants are quite stalwart-ish!).
(b) A major transition comes up again - a house shift.
(c) Have to, have to finish off some freelance assignments for dear editor.

Guess where I return? To my favorite part of the city - Jangpura Extension. Yes, it was with the lover I discovered this area and it's ironic that I return when he leaves. But I'll have exciting neighbours: the corporate film dude, the grass cognoscente dude, the best nonfiction writer dude, a whirling dance troupe, a longterm jangpura devotee, and others I disremember right now. And of course, Chia the dog will be the third member in the household.

I'll miss the Def Col parks, in particular Sukun and Shanti. And the Barista, my sometimes-office, with the most best waiters on the planet (except when they're under orders from the absurd management not to let in people after eleven pm).

Da Vinci Code in Ludhiana

(Sent to me by NS)

Not My Feet

Clicked by Monica

Ditty

Writing poems in rhyme is fun!
Sometimes it makes your pen and mind faster run.
             Not only with a meter Shakespearean is a poem empyrean.
             Nonsense rhymes and nonsense words
             hold some merit, have some worth.
Nothing "important" may come out this way --
say, for publication --
we only hope to let our pen hold sway
on the page - such fun!
             My poems, tied to the need to be good
             sometimes brood
             too much alone in my head.
             I must save them from sleepibed.

Circa 2 Nov 2005

May 28 (TODAY): Street intervention at Bangalore/ Mumbai/ Delhi

Here, on the Blank Noise Project blog.

No, I don't have many more details to share - one of those times I want to make it to something without a preconception and expectation.

Urb-ania

How do you deal with the extremes of weather in Delhi? In winter and in summer, I tell myself every now and then the worst is yet to come; it's *hot* but will surely get hotter still; this is bearable - survivable - the fabled Delhi summer before which all of us crawl helpless and hapless is still around the corner. Ditto with the cold.

My first Delhi summer with an airconditioner (I'm sitting in my barsaati room with the AC on) makes it easier to pull this stoical wisdom on to you. Not strictly the first, actually - my car has always been airconditioned and so have the offices I've worked in so far. Why do we choose to live in this city with the terrible weather and traffic and noise and safety conditions? What keeps us here over an off-the-beaten-path paradise? Oh, all the reasons we love Delhi and big cities all over the world. Such as some landlords not batting an eyelid when you say you're looking to share a flat with a male friend. How many times have you managed to be "lucky" this way? And how many times have you been tempted to say, "We're married"?

Now Craigslist Delhi (and Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai...)

I'm quite excited about the Delhi Craigslist. C showed it to me the day before - it is a portal featuring free classifieds and forums and is, according to C, used by people in 150+ cities "to manage their whole life, from landing a job to finding a place to adopting pets, selling old crap, etc."

An online Free Ads which is simple to use, intimate, responsive and totally cool. What a blessing for people who have just moved in and are trying to find their feet, or even for those who have been here for years and years! The site does not advertise and will grow into a vibrant urban community only if all of us word-of-mouth it. So go ahead, Dilliwallas - talk about it, use it and bring more simplicity into your life.

(In Wikipedia)

Delhi: Open Mic at Nigah - 27 April 2006

QUEER CAFÉ

Come join us for an evening of poetry, spoken word, music, singing, stories and performances about our bodies, selves and lives. Share, read, or just sit back and listen at the Queer Café – featuring readings and performances on gender, sexuality and the weather.

To sign up to read/perform, email queercafe@nigahmedia.com. Ditto if you have questions.

27th April, Thursday @ 7 pm
THE ATTIC, 36 Regal Building, CP
(Above The People Tree)
Tel : 2374 6050, 5150 3436

No photography, video or audio taping is permitted without prior permission. Email info@nigahmedia.com for more information.

www.nigahmedia.com

Artists' Day at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi: The NBA protest

Today was the 23rd day of dharna at Jantar Mantar by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) against the raising of the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam by the Narmada Water Authority in contravention of Supreme Court orders.

On April 5, at around 11:30pm, a force of more than 400 police swamped Jantar Mantar, forcefully and roughly attacking the satyagrahis who were peacefully sitting on their 20th day of dharna. Medha Patkar and Jamsingh Nargave, on their 8th day of indefinite fast, were arrested, forcefully lifted and taken in an ambulance to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. They have both maintained their fast, Medha refusing IV and taking only lime juice. Meanwhile, over fifty Narmada Bachao activists were arrested, dragged, beaten up and taken to the Parliament Street Police Station where they were harassed and detained.

At the dharna space, Bhagwati Patidam today continued on the 11th day of her fast. Other people have joined in on the indefinite hunger strike: Bhama Bhai and Raja Kalla from the valley (6th day of fasting); Mona Das, President JNUSU; Dananjaoi Tripathi, Vice President JNUSU; Avadhesh from All India Students' Association; and JNU Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy (4th day of fasting) and two others today.

It is heartening to see the support extended to NBA by organizations and individuals from our city and all over the country. Tomorrow, all artists in Delhi are urged to join the NBA protest: painters, filmmakers, singers, dancers, poets, writers -- bring your wares or just show up in solidarity and make this a Day of Protest by Artists.

WHEN: 10 am onwards, April 9, the entire day

WHERE: NBA Dharna Site, Opposite Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

Read Action Updates at narmada.org or sign a petition to be faxed to the Prime Minister and other government authorities.

oil-and-water

She once described herself as "a pessimist, a feminist always, a Black, a quiet egoist, a former Baptist, and an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive." Octavia Butler, black woman science fiction writer, died recently - Tyler Cowen writes an obituary.