Click here to watch the video if you are unable to view it above.

How often do we even consider this other India? How well it is concealed from our eyes, like the nondescript garbage can hidden behind a pillar at a star hotel’s corridor. What will it take to make us think, just think – forget act, about this? About our indifference.

I don’t know. I am, after all, just another of Nero’s guests.

If you happen to be in Ahmedabad, do make it a point to visit two nondescript but absolutely marvelous museums called the N.C.Mehta Museum and Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum of Art and Archeology. The former houses rare gems of miniature paintings while the latter has a spellbinding collection of sculptures dating all the way back to a couple of years BC!

Housed in the Gujarat University campus, the museums are not very well-known, especially by local auto drivers. But the effort to find them will be well rewarded. The N.C Mehta museum displays some of the finest examples of the lost art of painting miniatures, especially from the regions of Gujarat and Rajasthan where it was most prevalant. There are also a lot of samples of “Pahari” art which would be from the hilly regions of Himachal extending up to Kashmir. The south however never took much to the art form and the furthest reach was up to Belgaum.

While many of the miniatures depict religious scenes, some of the most beautiful and intricate among them following Krishna and his various travails with Radha and other Gopikas, there are also a lot that focus on the lives of the Kings of those times. It is a very informative and at times shocking portrayal of the manners and demeanours (or perhaps misdemeanours, depending on how you look at it) of those Kings and their courtesans. In one instance, a Mughal king of the era is shown “fondling young boys” as the English caption bluntly states, while the Hindi caption makes no such claim, though the scene is plain to see. Lovemaking seems to be quite a passion of the times, from what a lot of paintings seem to convey. However, every subject has been handled with utmost perfection and attention to detail, with amazing interplay of colour and intricacy. It is also interesting to note the subtle differences in styles between all the various ages and various regions from where the collection has been amassed.

In contrast is the L.D.Museum next door, where the art form is large and imposing, but just as intricate. Available on display are sculptures in stone, bronze and wood, seventy five thousand manuscripts on palm leaf and paper, paintings on cloth and and ancient coins. The statues date back several centuries BC and include several images of Hindu Gods, Buddha and Jain Tirthankaras from all over the country (rather, the various empires that existed back then). Of particular note are the large head of Buddha from around 3rd century BC, a rare small figure of Ganga from Mathura dating back to 4th century AD and a Vijnaptipatra which is a ‘letter of invitation’ painted as a scroll on cloth which refers to the Mughal emperor Jehangir’s lost firman prohibiting the killing of animals in his kingdom during the Jain festival of Paryusana.

Unfortunately we do not have any pictures to show as photography is not allowed inside the premises. However, take our word that the two museums are a treasure chest of historical fact and knowledge in a well-kept and well-displayed form and one of the best-kept secrets of Ahmedabad. We hope that the museum authorities are able to keep up the good work they are doing and encourage all of you to definitely pay a visit when you find yourself in that part of the world. It will be time well spent.

At a restaurant today, I met a waiter from Orissa who was a Muslim named Israel. Is there a lesson here somewhere?

Ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to the official launch of my book “Neumonia and Other Sketch Stories”

Details are as follows:

Date & Time: 1st August, Saturday at 6:00 pm
Venue: Oxford Bookstore, The Leela Palace, Bangalore

For knowing more about the book and the press coverage it has received, please visit www.sketchstories.com

I look forward to seeing you at the event

Ladies and gentlemen, the much awaited hardcopy version of my book Neumonia and Other Sketch Stories is now available!
You can buy it online here: Buy on SereneWoods.com

Priced at Rs. 199/- only, its worth a buy!

Many a times I have found my friends to have taken unconventional career paths and this delights me to no end.

Today, I got in touch with a former schoolmate of mine, after all the years that have passed by (thanks to the now-more-omnipresent-than-God Orkut). We used to refer to him as Pushti, for reasons that I don’t remember clearly anymore. Needless to say, he does own a decent name for himself.

Pushti has been active, since the last time I heard of him, in the field of social governance and helping out the government agencies in grappling with the increasing civic issues that most cities in India are facing. As part of this, he had earlier been a part of the Bangalore’s GIS (Geographic Information System) Project for BBMP (Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palika). The GIS helps BBMP in planning, monitoring and implementing various projects such as geography surveying, collection of data of infrastructure components including roads, private and public land, drainage system and so on.

Currently he is a volunteer with The E-Governments Foundation, which is an initiative led by Nandan Nilekani. As quoted by them on their website:

We are a registered not-for-profit trust that aims to improve Governance in India through the effective use of technologies and Govt. process reengineering.
We have developed a family of software products and solutions that will enable the efficient workings of cities and towns and hence the smoother delivery of services to its citizens.

We take pride in the fact that we bring together the best talent in IT and Process Re-engineering and apply it to create effective and feasible solutions to city local governments. To a large extent, we are a volunteer driven organization with volunteers contributing from around the globe. We thrive on high energy, creative and motivated people who are goal driven.

Would you like to volunteer to assist them? They need people, preferably from IT industries, who can spend their time and effort in improving governance. If so, contact them here.
And to my friend Pushti – great to know you are on a path not taken by many.

The blogging world is getting too boring, serious and claustrophobic.
I am taking a break, for a while. Probably the Mrs. will continue blogging. Enjoy.

Official Google Blog: Announcing Project Virgle

Richard Branson writes in this post about the joint venture between Virgin and Google, termed Virgle.

Virgle aims to start human settlements on Mars.
Excerpt:

Virgle’s goal is simple: the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars. Larry Page, Sergey Brin and I feel strongly that contemporary technology is sufficiently advanced to make such an effort both successful and economical, and that it’s high time that humanity moved beyond Earth and began our great, long journey to explore the stars and establish our first lasting foothold on another world.

In the years to come, we’ll be sending up a series of spaceships carrying (along with the supplies and tools needed to build the new colony) what eventually will be hundreds of Mars colonists, or Virgle Pioneers — myself among them.

Read more about how you can be a Virgle Pioneer.

Needless to say, these are interesting times, ladies and gentlemen.
Of course, there is a high possibility of this being nothing but a part of the April 1st syndrome. We shall have to wait and watch.

A short story from one of the masters of the art, Roald Dahl:
William and Mary

William is about to die and Landy, a doctor, approaches him for a unique experiment. William’s brain is perfectly fine and is sadly, going to die due to his body being decayed. However, Landy, has a plan to preserve the brain along with its full consciousness. Does William approve of it? And if so, does he succeed? And more importantly, what does William exist as? A consciousness in his brain?

Read the story to know about it.

Thanks to Faiq for the link to the story.

If you are in Mumbai, then you have to read this and act now: Batti Bandh.

From the site:

Batti Bandh is an entirely voluntary event taking place on the 15th of December between 7:30 & 8:30 p.m. This event is aimed at requesting all of Mumbai to stand up for a cause that is greater than all of us. All you need to do is switch off lights and appliances in your home, shop, office, school, college or anywhere you are for 1 hour to take a stand against global warming. Just 1 hour.

What will this 1 hour do? This 1 hour for just 1 day is not our only aim. This 1 hour is to set an example to the world, to every person who witnesses it, to show that together we can make a difference. This 1 hour will save a lot of electricity as well as pollution and if done regularly can go a long way in reducing pollution that is released by electricity plants as well.

We were inspired by a similar event recently held in Sydney, Australia, called Earth Hour. In Sydney, 2.2 million people participated. Their one hour of lights out meant that 24.86 tons of carbon dioxide were not released into the air – the equivalent of taking 48,613 cars off the road. We are a city of more than 20 million people. Let this number be motivation enough to show that we can make a difference. Unplug Mumbai.

How about starting this for Bangalore? I would be interested to contribute in organizing it. How about a Traffic Bandh? Take your vehicles off the road.