I leave these meetings feeling that I haven’t caught up enough. There’s so much to talk about for each of the years that have passed. Met up with Archana soon after I got in to Kolkata and requested her to round up as many as she could for tea. Went on to Bangalore and met up with Dipu, Linda and Devika Nair. In the excitement of catching up no photos were taken Got back to Kolkata and tea at Flury’s with Archana, Sangeeta, Munmun and Oni. Getting Oni’s number was serendipitous. There was a lady at Indrakshi’s party who looked at me as though she knew me and I thought she was Oni. It turned out she wasnt but she’d met Oni recently and was nice enough to give me her number! Amazing!

From what I hear the LH get together went off extremely well and so did the one the boy of the ’82 batch had. Ours is tentatively scheduled for Dec 20 to Dec 23, 2007. What do you guys think? We need to find the others in the next few months so that we give them enough time to plan a trip to Kolkata in December. I hear off an on that some of you have bumped into someone or the other. Please email me whatever details that you might have, telephone number, mailing address, email id etc. We need to locate the others and soon.

Most of you will have seen Sangeeta’s email update by now where she’s talked about writing and painting. Sangeeta writes about recent events and subjects that move her for The Afternoon, Mumbai. I thought I’d add to her email by posting excerpts from two of her most recent articles, Maqbool Fida Hindustan Par…! and The Afzal hanging…. with a link to the rest that have appeared till date

Maqbool Fida Hindustan Par…!
Saturday, November 25, 2006 8:50:6 IST

I felt really bad reading about Hussain being trapped in London, pining for home, longing to walk through the streets of Byculla and Grant Road but being advised not to return thanks to the nine hundred cases filed against him! Couldn’t help thinking of Bahadur Shah Zafar similarly home sick and exiled in Burma writing poignantly about not getting even two yards in his homeland for a burial! The man is ninety-one years old. If he does not come home now when will he come? He has apologised for unintentionally hurting the sentiments of people and even offered to destroy work that a three-member committee comprising a VHP member an art critic and a lawyer might find objectionable. But for the twenty nine thousand people who have signed a petition against him on the net this is not good enough.

The Afzal hanging….
20th Oct 2006

The Afzal hanging has generated much debate and hysteria in the last couple of weeks gaining momentum with each day. It is a relief for the moment that October 20th has come and gone without a hanging. Apart from anything else both religions can afford to be spared the distress and drama of a controversial hanging bang in the middle of the festive season!

I too was one of the signatories in the ‘Save Afzal Petition’ on the net. My comment was simply when in doubt say no. Don’t hang Afzal till you are certain that it is the right thing to do. Having done that, the truth is that all this doubt over the sentence has arisen thanks to a flurry of activity and media coverage that has unfortunately come a little too late in the day. Why did all these activists remain silent for so long? If Afzal’s defense was inadequate or even nonexistent why are people organizing morchas now and not more appropriately at the time. Public opinion is a vital factor in a Democracy why was this tool not used to it’s fullest earlier instead of leaving it till days before the execution of the sentence and the culprit!

and the photograph above is of a painting of hers that I like very much.

You can read the rest of the first article on the web and the 2nd article is an exclusive and has been posted only to the yahoo group folders. Another incentive to join up

During my recent visit to Bangalore, Tea at Sangita Ohri’s was very exciting as along with the fabulous chaat I got to see her art. One of these was a beautiful Trompe L’Oiel she’d painted into a niche in her dining room. I looked it up they are murals that create an illusion of a three dimensional space and I think translated it means Fool the Eye. If you ask I’m sure she’ll put up a photograph When I saw this article over a month ago, on my current favourite site, Lifehacker, I immediately thought of her. I dont think she needs this article she’s already an expert but it’s for all those of you who might want to be adventurous.

About 10 days ago Sangeeta Bukshi wrote me about her daughter painting a wall in her room and how a while later she was sorely tempted and followed suit. I got all excited about it and remembered this post that I’d saved up as a draft I need to get my head fixed, I keep forgeting things! Putting it on record so that I’m forgiven for all the things that I might forget henceforth

Both Sangita and Sangeeta do share photographs. I for one am mighty interested. I sounded out Ramesh who said that it would be my responsibility to get it cleared by the landlady I’m already thinking of painting the wall in the balcony. People on the lake will get to see and enjoy it and me of course Now I have to come up with the idea I like being a copy cat Maybe I’ll do cats

Anybody want to join me? Remember, we now have 3 experts to consult

Penguin India is organizing an event to launch the book 13 December: A Reader, to which Sonia Jabbar has contributed. The event will be held at Gulmohar in the India Habitat Centre New Delhi, at 4 pm on 12th December. Read Hang The Truth by Sonia which appeared first in the Hindustan Times on October 17, 2006. And here’s the introduction to the book by Arundhati Roy. Those who are in Delhi might be able to make it for the book launch. And don’t forget to go out and buy a few copies for yourselves and friends.

Did some surfing on the Net and here is a write-up on a film that she had made earlier
Read a review by Beena Sarwar on Chowk on Sonia’s film Autumn’s Final Country on the suffering of 4 displaced women living in Kashmir.

This post is about a much more serious side of Sonia. Dont be disappointed thinking that she’s changed completely because the Mad Hatter still exists. To catch up here’s a bit of background on what she’s been up to in these past two decades. I’ve shamelessly copied the write-up from a review on this very film on Asia Source

Sonia Jabbar has been politically active since the early 1990s and has worked on Kashmir issues as a rights activist, journalist, photographer and filmmaker since 1995. She has founded several Indian movements for nuclear disarmament, and after the 2002 Gujarat riots she co-founded Aman Ekta Manch, a citizens’ group in New Delhi that worked for peace between the communities. She has initiated Indian-Pakistan peoples’ conferences at the grassroots level and in 2000 she received a research grant from WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace), founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner HH The Dalai Lama.