I finished reading Rohinton Mistry's "Tales from Firozsha Baag" last week - it's another great book from him. "A Fine Balance" is my favourite book of his - it reminds me so much of my impressions of India and Delhi, though he tends to write more about Mumbai.
This book is a collection of short stories, each one focusing on a family or character who lives in the Firozsha Baag building complex, and describing one of their memories or stories. Some of the characters cross into other stories, having a smaller part in other people's lives. It's a fairly close-knit group, though there are cantankerous characters and some who keep to themselves. It's as I've always imagined the buildings in Indian cities. I've always thought there seems to be more of a community in the cities in India - perhaps because there needs to be as people have to help each other out in order to live and survive. It was one of the things I noticed when we'd drive through the streets - people tended to stop and talk to each other, and they seemed to recognize or know others in their local area. This is different to the apartment blocks I've always lived in - perhaps it's just my blocks, or me, but people in the places where I live seem to barely know each other apart from recognizing someone on the stairwell as they enter their apartments. In the stories, the people of Firozsha Baag are involved in each other's lives - one woman owns a refrigerator and another apartment stores their meats in it in exchange for helping her with other chores. The difference between parts of India and Australia could also be that people in Australia tend to have their own "stuff" and don't need to share it as often, so there are less causes to know your neighbours. And many Australian's live in separate houses not apartments so there is also the separation of space and land dividing the different families, and people don't live in extended families as often as is done in India.
The book is of course written beautifully, so I'd recommend reading it to anyone who wants to know more about life in India. The section below is from the story called "Of white hairs and cricket" caught my eye as it's about yarn & spinning yarn and also music and records - a few of my interests. In this telling, Mistry seems to weave together the simple moments in life as he describes the spinning wool - blending the movements of the yarn with the nuances of their everyday lives, setting the scene for how the family lived.
lounge singers at the delhi marriot (2006) - 12 seconds video - the tables near the singers were always empty as they were quite loud. and mostly singing flat. I would have preferred them to sing / play some of the local music. the restaurant upstairs had lovely quiet traditional indian music. but I think they're told to play the Western songs to keep the business visitors happy. all the hotels seem to have this policy - definitely the name brand Indian hotels
The 4th annual Carnival of e-Creativity (CeC 2009) is scheduled to be held February 27 to March 1, 2009, in the sylvan spaces of Sattal Estate, just above Bhimtal, near Nainital, in the Lower Kumaon of the new Himalayan Indian state of Uttarakhand.
As always, this will be about Presentations, Performances, Exhibits, Meetings, and Screenings, involving direct and indirect participation of e-Creative Practitioners of all description from around India and the world, spread over 3 days of intense private, and also public, creative interaction.
Organizers :
The Academy of Electronic Arts (The AeA) is a Private Trust that serves as a learning, sharing, mentoring, networking, benchmarking, empowering and broadly inclusive, but non-educational, institution.
Managing Trustee of The AeA & Incident Director for CeC 2009: Shankar Barua
Co-Curator: Ima Pico (Spain)
Co-Curator: Wilfried Agricola de Cologne (Germany)
Co-Curator: Moritz Neumuller (Spain)
perhaps this is a very generalised, naive interpretation of one of the mumbai terrorist's confessions, but after reading the article, these are my initial impressions (stream of consciousness - spelling / grammar mistakes & all). I replied to the mail list with most of below (but have added extra thoughts since). it made me sad to read this article as I cannot understand how this person could be thinking.
last post for VoMo08 is some of Gandhi's words from my visit to his Bombay residence on 15/11. music is "Claire's Theme" by Graeme Revell from the soundtrack to one of my favourite films "Until the End of the World"
it's been quite a month - sometimes hard to work out what to post each day, some posts were posted late. but all are little memories of this month so I can remember them later
not very exciting video - it's of the plane + waiting for the car at Delhi domestic airport - but I've never been so relieved to catch a flight before. even though I was safe in mumbai, it was unsettling to be there so I was happy to be going home. I was worried that my flight might be delayed or cancelled but everything went smoothly. the army was at the airport and they did all the security checks. it was probably the most efficient trip out of India I've ever had!
Delhi airport and Mumbai airport is much nicer now that it's been renovated. delhi airport was a bit dingy in 2006.
this is one of the main footage scenes that was being showed on tv early morning of Thursday 27th November during the Mumbai attacks. one thing struck me - when the man with the bleeding hand is near the cameraman, the man next to him - perhaps a journalist? - moves his arm so the camera can get a clearer shot. then the cameraman turns and walks to film other people at the scene. it was replayed over and over. I was wondering then - if in a crisis, what would I do? would I film or would I try help the man and stop the bleeding. i hope someone helped this man.
the newsreaders were in shock too. they were talking about the Icon of Mumbai - the Landmark of Mumbai, being targeted. for a while they talked about the artworks inside. they hardly mentioned the people until later.
such shocking pictures were coming in all night. later in the morning the news broadcasters were asked by the police not to show live 'operations' on air in case it would aid the terrorists. I wondered why it took them this long to do this!! I think the journalists & news broadcasters need to be a little more responsible in what they show live.
another scene being repeatedly shown was the one of the ATS (anti-terrorist squad) chief standing outside putting on the bullet proof vest, with hardly any guards near him. then saying he was killed a few minutes later as he led a charge into one of the hotels.
live footage was shown of the police and special agents outside Nariman House. part way through this broadcast the channel was told to stop showing the images. it was very clear to see where the police were standing which I think was putting them in greater risk.
when I was at mumbai airport on thursday afternoon, the tvs in the terminal were all showing the news channels - in English and Hindi. all the broadcasts were showing 'live' pictures, despite being told earlier in the day not to show footage of the operations. I thought this was a bit irresponsible of them!
when the rickshaw dropped me off after work, I walked past a marquee next to the hotel. there were people setting up the chairs etc. later that evening I could hear drumming from outside and I could see the drummers and a lady dancing to the beat. I went outside but couldn't hear it as clearly and couldn't see them. so I went to level 7 and then back to level 2 where my room was and zoomed in. the audio isn't great as I can hear the hotel muzac mixed in. but the lady seemed to be enjoying herself. the people here show so much joy at parties, despite the places they live in and the things that go on around them. it's an amazing thing to see.
my head's a little blurry now after all that happened following this in the city, but I think this was around the time the attacks started in South Mumbai - perhaps an hour or so prior. the party only lasted about an hour. maybe it was a wedding reception.
26/11/2008
VloMo08 : day 26
Mumbai, India
I haven't had reliable net access so uploading late now that I'm home.
The 4th annual 
