chakravyuha

I’m in Calcutta right now and it amazes me how much of the city resembles Bombay. Like Bombay, the city has a lot of character and driving here is far less aggravating than in Delhi (where I live), although the roads are as crowded as in Bombay. Like Bombay, it has the same narrow roads winding through old dilapidated buildings. More often than not, when you enter these buildings you’ll find the inside is maintained very well. It’s not uncommon to see a spanking office that has not been painted for years from the outside. The reason, methinks, is very simple. The inside of a building, be it a house in an apartment complex or an office in a larger commercial building, is managed by the people inhabiting it. They have every wish to make it appear neat and clean. However, when it comes to the outsides, nobody cares. It is a symptom of how we Indians lack a civic sense. Somehow, we never developed a shared interest or stake in either the development or the maintanence of these non-private areas of a city.

Sidenote #1: Calcutta is now called Kolkata and Bombay is Mumbai but I hate those new names.

Sidenote #2: Here’s a picture of a shopping complex called Newmarket. It’s called Newmarket, but it’s freaking old. The place has a very old bakery called “Nahaums” that has the best Brownies that I have ever had, and I have had brownies in a lot of cities in the world.

The list this time is all Hindi.

Bidi – from the movie Omkara

Raunch stuffed to the gills. What great fun! A rare song that manages to not sound cheap while being deliciously risque

Naina – from the movie Omkara

Just plain beautiful. A short treatise on the, well, eyes. Actually even though “eyes” is a literal translation for “naina” it just does not cut it. “Naina” conveys something much softer. I guess that’s one of those things that is utterly lost in translation.

Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan & Salim Merchant – Yeh Honsla from the movie Dor

Daler Mehndi & Chitra – Rang De Basanti from the movie Rang De Basanti

Rabbi Shergill – Bulla Ki Jana

It’s in punjabi and translations are available freely.

Bodhi Tree – Sab Ka Katega

This song was done by my brother Abhishek’s band. It’s not a plug, it’s a genuinely fun song. It can be download for free from here. While you are there check out a song called “GMD”. I believe it was quite an underground sensation last year in India. But be warned. It’s not for those who are easily offended.

I finally got talking linux. I found a talking nopix distribution at http://www.oralux.org. It has a variety of editors. Now to figure the keystrokes. They are radically different from Windows.

Courtesy Abhishek Narain.