'Duomo' just means 'cathedral', but the duomo in Milan is just something else. The first time we travelled in Europe, we started with Milan. That made it exciting in itself. We drank from water fountains. We ate real pizza and real pasta. We tried talking to real Italian people with real Italian accents, sometimes talking real Italian which was a bit hard. And we saw the beautiful duomo. The second time we went to Milan, we did not have any intentions of staying there. We thought we would take the first train out of Milan and go to Ancona or Bari to get our ferry to Greece. That was the plan. So we stood in the long queue at the enquiry counter of the railway station, talking excitedly about all our plans for Greece, everything we wanted to see, everything we had read, mythology... We are always sceptical of people at railway booths. They're usually grumpy. We were more than a little … [Read more...]
Reading Stories
I was asked to read and assess stories written by Grades III and IV. What a joy that was! Of course, I had students who wrote for me the story of The Life of Pi or other movies they've watched. In fact, I felt rather bad for one of the children who wrote about that movie - the movie evidently made no sense to him! He wrote about how a tiger and boy decided to run away from a zoo. I wonder, was that his attempt at imagination? My favourite story went something like this. I wish I could have copied it, mistakes and all, but I did not think of it. I particularly noted, though, how direct speech seemed to have no punctuation at all. I wonder why. Once upon a time there was a boy. His name was Bingo. Bingo was always thinking about chocolate Taj Mahal. One day, there was another boy. His name was Krishna. He lost his ball. He was crying. Bingo saw Krishna and asked "what's your name why are … [Read more...]
The Dictionary at School
The portion for the exams has been completed; students are fed up with revision. So, a colleague of mine decided to do something different - she read out a story from The Story-Catcher. I was thrilled! This reading went one step further than 'I loved your story' and 'nice story' and 'I like the story of Sana'. After listening to The Dictionary, the students were expected to write a poem. It had to be inspired by the story, but they could write what they liked. And so they did. I was waiting to have a look at their work, and that happened in a lovely way too! On Thursday, a Student Held Conference took place at the school library. The library was jazzed up a little to make it slightly more attractive. One large notice-board was dedicated to The Story-Catcher. Poems covered the board. One child even made a beautiful copy of the cover illustration. I looked at all the poems in … [Read more...]
Experiences on Stage IV
Every time my sister Nisha and I performed in France, we had far less time to practise than usual. The last two performances were easier - we practised long distance on Skype before meeting and practising. Before that, it was individual, separate efforts, followed by coordination once I reached France. I remember the time we performed at Aix-en-Provence. We practised, of course we did. But there's some amount of choreography that changes every time we perform. Even when we perform the same piece with another dancer, we do not perform it in exactly the same way. We keep the other performer in mind, if nothing else. For this particular performance, as a duet, there were several things that we did in a kind of mirror-formation. I did the right side, while she did the left. I never practised the left side; she never practised right. And then, somehow, we got disoriented on stage.We … [Read more...]
‘Stranded’ in Ahmedabad
I remember the time when my father decided to surprise me by coming along with me on my flight to Kolkata. My flight had a stop over at Ahmedabad, and he decided to pop into Ahmedabad to see a friend. Until we reached Ahmedabad, things were happy and smooth. I was duly surprised, duly happy with the surprise and duly content with the idea of continuing my journey alone from there. We took off at Ahmedabad -- and landed immediately. Bird-hit. As far as I'm concerned, bird-hits belong to faded hoardings put up at airports by the air force as warnings. They don't belong to reality. Whether the bird-hit was real or not, I don't know. The newspapers the next day said 'Suspected bird-hit' and commended the pilot for having decided to land even though he wasn't sure, keeping in mind the safety of the passengers. What I do know is that the hasty landing caused a tyre to be punctured and, of … [Read more...]
Non-Cooperation
Leela Samson, in her book Rukmini Devi writes: 'Mrs Besant disagreed with Gandhi on the issue of non-cooperation. Her opinion was that mass civil disobedience was fraught with dangerous possibilities. She was apprehensive of the nation's integrity being weakened as a result. She repeatedly warned that if and when India attained swaraj, it should be careful not to 'find itself in a condition of anarchy, resistant of all discipline, defiant of all authority, where everyone was a law unto himself, enforcing his will by mobs, or trampled on by superior force'. The wisdom of the statement she made then rings frighteningly true today.' Later, India forgot its resentment against Mrs Besant and embraced her as one of those who worked for its independence. I wonder, could things have worked differently? … [Read more...]
School Bus
I'm feeling the generation gap the wrong way around again. School buses are meant for playing stone-paper-scissor, not listening to music on an iPhone. During rides in the school bus, children should jump around and shriek when they go top speed over a speed breaker. And they should, of course, get told off by the teachers. It's not normal for them to sit grumpily and complain that the AC doesn't work. Rides in school buses are meant for talking about everything that happened in school - mean teachers, kind teachers, strict teachers, gross food... Not for sharing photos on Facebook and commenting on other people's status messages. The only thing that remains the same is that even now, there are a few students who sleep right through the journey home. That's normal. … [Read more...]
Mourning Achebe
So many people have written about Chinua Achebe so knowledgeably in the past few days; I can't come close to that. I know next to nothing about him, but the sense of loss I felt when I read about his death was like a pit within me. I was introduced to Achebe when in college, with, of course Things Fall Apart. After that, I read little about him and by him. Yet, the impression he made on this young student of literature was so powerful that even today, images of the novel remain in my head. The iron horse, the sacred silk-cotton tree, the cowries and the bride-price. What a simple, wonderful writer he was. The world will miss him. … [Read more...]
Dysfunctional Internet
I remember when internet did not exist. I remember when internet at home was unheard of and we always had to go to a Cyber Cafe. I remember when internet at home was the standard dial up connection with loud trrrrrrrr-tiktiktiktiktiktiktik-peeeeeep-peeeeep-khrrrr-peeeeee-khrrrr I remember when the flashing modem constantly made me squirm and count how many minutes I'd already been online. Then came broadband, which was, wow, silent and fast! Not so many awful minutes of waiting for pages to load and thinking of high telephone bills. Then came unlimited broadband. Silent, fast and inexpensive. When I remember all of this, why do I feel so uncomfortable when the internet is not working? … [Read more...]
‘Stranded’ in Paris
I don't exaggerate when I say that my poor guardian angel is overworked. I don't exaggerate when I say that I have the craziest possible travel experiences. Proof of the fact was given to me yet again in 2010 with the most unbelievable of problems. A volcano erupted. The famous volcano eruption that caused GPS all over Europe to stop working in 2010 and volcanic ash to descend into the continent naturally affected me as well. How could it not affect Varsha and her travel stories? In Paris with a flight to catch, I learned that all flights had been cancelled indefinitely, until the volcanic ash settled. As 'usual', my visa was due to expire very soon, but as usual, it was not my fault that I could not go home. And as usual, the experience was wonderful. Extra days with my sister and my truly incredible French family are treasures I cherish. I remember the joy that accompanied all the … [Read more...]
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