Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Blog Change! Blog Change! Blog Change!

I cannot stand the ugliness of my blog anymore. So a blog change will happen, which will stimulate energinized blog post entries.

Okay, here's the new Blog: Cellar Door

Grrrr...

All my original blog templates got lost when I switched to the new, improved blogger that seduced me with it labels and impressive customizable template design. :(

Tell me how to fix it, no? Come back widened post spaces, all my blog links...Come back single, non-ugly header:(

I will do a "real" blog soon!

Midpoint Conference

....which is where I have been. In Nagpur. At a beautiful, ashram type jugga called Anandwan. Check it out. Pictures will happen one day.

Right now I am sitting at the Nagpur train station, catching up on email backlog, and writing a blog because actually replying back to everyone will take too long. Our train just got delayed by 2 hours which makes me grind my teeth in suppressed rage. Okay, not really. But I am quite irritable at the moment.

Anandwan was really nice. I wasn't really ready for a "midpoint" conference a third way through the fellowship, but it ended up being exactly what I needed. My eyes are itchy. And I crave for greedy, disgusting amounts of hot water poured on me. But my immediate wants are...to disappear into my thoughts with my ipod crooning into my ear as I watch India out my train window--sprawled and grand like some spoiled goddess--deceptively vast and empty.

Has any one of you ever played "Mafia"? I learned it this week, and it's a spectacular game, which we must play when we next meet:)

Back to Delhi

I am not exactly sure why updating my blog always slips through the cracks. I love writing on here, and sharing my random experiences. But somehow sitting down and typing it out becomes...secondary. Anyway, here's my much belated Delhi post.

I was at the India Socialist Forum in Delhi last week. Before I go into all the vibrant chaos of the forum, I would like to sidestep into a rant.

A rant about foreigners in India.

Or more specifically of white people taking scenic pictures of local Indians without asking consent. A language barrier used as an excuse to forego basic manners and thought. It is not that hard to point to your camera and wobble your head inquiringly.

I was walking down that toxically dusty path at the forum which joins the north end to the south end, punishing those who hope to see seminars outside of their physical vicinity. It's where I see a large white man with his 30 lb fish-lens camera stop in his tracks, turn around and kneel in front of this little boy taking his bath outside a small strip of slums. Without a single word or even a smile, he got in close. Adjusted his lens. Zoomed in. And clicked. Wtf. When did it become okay for a stranger to take someone's picture while he was taking his bath?

I saw this happen twice. But the second time, there was atleast a smile involved which made it slightly less creepy

The thing that is particularly frustrating about these photographers, is that it is never the middle-class, English-speaking woman reading the newspaper at the bus-stand who gets her photo taken. It's always the slum kid bathing next to his spigot or the gap-toothed old lady from a village grinning uncertainly into the camera. Oh look, she doesn't know that her picture is being taken. Awww..

Okay...I am done ranting. I still haven't discussed brown kurtas and Sufi music...or the forum. Next week, next week...maybe *shrug*

Jaan - e - Maan!!!

I have stuff to say about my recent Delhi trip, the India Socialist Forum, white people in India, dusty brown kurtas, Sufi music, dancing and activism. But not right now. That post is coming. In the meantime, I want to spread the word about Jaaneman...in that it Rocked! Lots! Go see it, and laugh till you leak endless tears and you are on the floor gasping for breath. Fabulous.

Here's yet another excellent review by Jabberwock.

Overheard in Bangalore

Dude #1: You going to the party next week?
Dude #2: Nah, I am having scrotal problems.

- Majestic Bus Stand