tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-99824772012-01-31T18:49:44.120+05:30<i>opening my universe a little more</i><br> <b>...</b><br>mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.comBlogger6471100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-87844198656671682722011-12-10T23:00:00.000+05:302011-12-11T10:06:29.098+05:30

About a millennium into the future, the universe is a lot different. Many generations ago from 3011, the year in which Sue Lange's Tritcheon Hash opens, women decide they have had enough of the testosterone fueled violence and messiness of males. They pack up and over the next decade or so, leave the men behind on the polluted and resource-depleted Earth and board starships to Coney Island.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-15660853399665193172011-12-04T14:28:00.001+05:302011-12-08T12:26:12.988+05:30

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams, the Vogons are an alien race from the planet Vogsphere who are responsible for the destruction of the Earth, in order to facilitate an intergalactic highway construction project. They are the writers of "the third worst poetry in the universe." The only way Vogons get other races to hear their poetry is by capturing them and

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-22156435834721527892011-11-13T14:58:00.001+05:302011-11-13T21:35:21.610+05:30

I have always wondered why Payal Dhar and her Shadow in Eternity series are not famous enough. For the large number of authors that seem to have their 15 minutes under the limelight these days, the lack of excitement around Payal Dhar's Shadow in Eternity trilogy feels like a betrayal by us readers. Those three books, to me, are amongst some of the best fantasy fiction written in India and I

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-22362628748457208612011-11-06T23:36:00.000+05:302011-11-12T22:44:27.940+05:30

Chetan quit his international investment banking career in 2009, to devote his entire time to writing and make change happen in the country. That is from the short (but extremely eulogistic) bio that appears as soon as you get past the cover of Chetan Bhagat's Revolution 2020 — Love. Corruption. Ambition. So, does this book measure up to that praise? That is a rhetorical question. For a

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-54052338313677796212011-10-31T17:50:00.001+05:302011-11-01T11:17:55.389+05:30

When I wrote about  Lucy and Stephen Hawking's attempt to bring theoretical physics to kids through George's Secret Key to the Universe, I had pontificated a bit on e-learning — on the process of using stories and scenarios to convey information, to teach. Much of what I had said then about e-learning can be reiterated again while discussing Rajeev Nanda's attempt to fuse literature and

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-46186132968868088492011-10-08T14:42:00.002+05:302011-10-14T12:38:50.972+05:30

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! Rajeev Sir looked into my eyes and smiled that extra special smile of his. I felt as if my heart was made of butter. His smile is like a microwave. When the microwave is on, the butter melts. I admit that at times I am slow. Slow to call a spade a spade. Perhaps I just didn't want to admit that I had made a grave error in judging a book by its blurb. It was only

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-86865702224515362232011-09-26T14:52:00.001+05:302011-09-26T15:00:59.171+05:30

What would you expect from a book that tries to be clever (and only succeeds in eliciting a groan) with its title? I read Jason Lethcoe's No Place Like Holmes, without expecting much from it. At no point in my reading did it feel that the book would attempt to change my opinion of it. No Place Like Holmes, and we might as well get this out of the way, is yet another book that tries to sell

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-59345619450979550572011-08-29T19:50:00.000+05:302011-08-29T19:50:37.913+05:30

Anil Menon's The Beast With Nine Billion Feet uses "opposites" to tell its story. At the most primary level this is a story of social and ethical issues about genetic engineering. This is depicted through the covert war between two groups: one wants to make genetic engineering affordable and used for public good. It believes in propagating its boons through something similar to the current open

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-81989569538520890302011-08-28T00:51:00.004+05:302011-11-09T12:59:25.214+05:30

Photoset | Slideshow I visited the nation's capital, New Delhi, between 17th-22nd August, 2011. The trip wasn't the usual "touristy" one — the primary purpose was to spend some time with close friends who have made Delhi their base. We did manage to visit a couple of spots frequented by tourists. A goodish bit of the other time was spent in staying inside to avoid Delhi's hot and sticky

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-63414028796059606522011-08-18T13:21:00.001+05:302011-11-09T15:23:56.993+05:30

Remember Fatty? The Five Find-Outers and Dog? Recently I had one of my many bouts of regression — a time when I find I can only read the stuff I had as a kid. During my last such bout, I decided to do a marathon of Enid Blyton’s Five Find-Outers and Dog Mystery Series. Having acquired all the 15 books for my Kindle, this would be the first time I could read all the books in the sequence they

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-79844948090422688992011-08-15T16:17:00.015+05:302011-08-16T11:48:34.398+05:30

Photoset | Slideshow For the benefit of non-Maharashtrians, Mamachya Gavala Jau Ya is a popular Marathi kiddy song about taking a train to visit your Mama (maternal uncle, mom's brother) in his village. The reason for invoking the song in the title was my visit to my Mama's village, also my birthplace, last week. I was visiting after 25 years. I stayed there for a couple of days — time I spent in

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-13566673766699546582011-08-02T11:51:00.003+05:302011-08-02T11:59:07.090+05:30

Geetha Krishnan on the six ways in which technology has impacted learners and learning: In case you are unable to watch the video here, visit this page: TEDxGachibowli - Geetha Krishnan - The Technology Affected Learner

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-5901414545045881582011-04-06T16:04:00.000+05:302011-04-06T16:04:30.041+05:30

Are you one of those who subscribes to AWAD and The Hot Word daily newsletter or RSS feeds? Are you fascinated by words? Have you ever wondered how different words come together to mean something or how in the hands of a supreme author mere letters on paper acquire such power? Have you ever wondered where the words and phrases you use come from? More importantly have you ever pondered on why

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-73877695237894120982011-03-20T16:41:00.003+05:302011-03-22T18:33:04.951+05:30

Warning: Mild spoilers ahead At the risk of making an extraordinarily sweeping generalization, I think it would not be amiss to hazard that most of us would know what I am talking about when I mention an entertaining but horrible B-grade Bollywood production. It's the kind of movie which we instinctively perceive to have the worst of plots, stories, acting/hamming, the most outrageous plot-points

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-60993684789341533402011-03-13T19:04:00.001+05:302011-03-16T12:57:48.370+05:30

Warning: Mild spoilers ahead Chetan Bhagat's success has spawned a spate of Indian “mass-market” novels written in English. You know the kind of novels I am referring to — simple, easy to read stories with a non-taxing, barebones plot and narrative. The focus is more on sustaining the pace of the story rather than building atmosphere or exploring the motivations and interiority of characters.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-11228084866160925102011-03-03T18:09:00.002+05:302011-03-03T18:13:34.998+05:30

Each of these should have had a separate post but . . .it has been ages since I made these trips and while incidents and high points are still fresh I think it will be better if I just post the links to the pictures and let them do most of the talking. These trips are all from last year — and were a wonderful break/change in what otherwise was a routine and below-the-par year. Amboli: Amboli is

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-74142746268006985672011-02-24T18:11:00.006+05:302011-02-27T00:22:14.757+05:30

“Failure stays with everyone and is a wonderful subject to write about.” That's Soumya Bhattacharya talking about his novel, If I Could Tell You, in an interview. For a novel about the failed aspirations of a writer and of the failed promises of a father, perhaps it is in a way paradoxical that the book itself is so successful — both as a story and as a narrative that has been so well put

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-13990912685780586332011-02-06T11:13:00.006+05:302011-02-25T11:59:33.735+05:30

Warning: Mild spoilers aheadTurbulence is the tale of some people who alight from BA 142 — the flight from London to Delhi, and find that they have acquired superpowers. These superpowers are linked to their deepest desires and wishes: Aman can hook himself to any computer, access any database connected to the Internet or make calls anywhere by just dialing the numbers in his head. Tia, an

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-70990283077944309682011-01-26T20:21:00.008+05:302011-01-27T11:55:49.914+05:30

Warning: Mild spoilers aheadThe Dragon Keeper is the first book of Robin Hobb's duology - The Rain Wild Chronicles. After the wonderful Soldier Son Trilogy, Hobb once again returns to the world of her earlier three trilogies — the story of FitzChivalry Farseer, the Fool and the world of the Liveships (The Farseer Trilogy, Liveship Traders Trilogy, The Tawny Man Trilogy). The Dragon Keeper in a

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-58403499469374603742011-01-26T20:19:00.001+05:302011-01-26T20:21:12.728+05:30

Once upon a time, when I was young and had a lot more hair on my head, I would blog regularly — often do nothing but post numerous silly links through the day. Then times changed and like Samson after his haircut, with my rapidly thinning hair, I lost any urge to write and to post anything online. I haven't blogged for exactly eight months (I had even forgotten my password to the blog and it took

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-90267720476365215652010-05-27T10:53:00.002+05:302010-05-27T11:15:46.598+05:30

Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune, the fourth book in the magnificent Dune Chronicles, is a treasure trove of quotable (and insightful) passages.Here are a few of my favorites from the novel. I decided to club all of them together rather than put up each one in a separate post.Free Will or Destiny?I have come to believe that holy boredom is good and sufficient reason for the invention of free

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-45108110296503878192010-04-13T17:35:00.004+05:302010-04-13T18:56:47.003+05:30

Dhanashree Pandit Rai at TEDx Mumbai elucidates the seven notes of music. Fabulous. Masterful.In case you are unable to watch the video here, visit this page: TEDxMumbai - Dhanashree Pandit-Rai.Link Via: India Uncut

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-58380466693093306312010-04-12T16:18:00.004+05:302010-04-13T18:00:07.916+05:30

I am not that big a fan of poetry — I prefer prose and especially the novel. But every now and then you come across something that makes you appreciate poems — something like a Natalie Merchant singing songs set to the poetry of forgotten poets of long ago. There's Gerald Manley Hopkins (Spring and Fall: to a young child), and there's e.e.cummings (maggie and milly and molly and may) and many

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-15751893713910869792010-04-12T13:39:00.002+05:302010-04-12T13:43:34.940+05:30

Over the weekend, I visited one of my college teachers. I was meeting him after quite some time, at least 3 months (and once upon a time, I would visit him at least twice a week. Alas, life!). It was good to once again talk at length of academics, books, teaching, the college, ex-students, the current lot of students and all that. And when you are talking to teachers at this time of the year, you

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-91377480857597055242010-03-22T16:26:00.010+05:302010-03-22T18:16:44.960+05:30

Photoset | SlideshowLast Saturday, 20th March 2010, I went to Uran with a couple of friends for some birding (bird watching as it is otherwise called). We three have been planning a outing for some time now but, for various reasons, were unable to actually make a trip — one of us had joined a new workplace, my alternate weekends are booked with other commitments, and add to that the usual

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-9469006438420215242010-03-09T19:20:00.013+05:302010-03-10T17:26:05.077+05:30

Photoset | SlideshowLast Sunday morning, I woke up early. Really early. I was up and about even before the sun had peeped out. This sacrifice of sleep on a Sunday was to assist a friend in carrying out a test. One of my school friends has acquired a scooty — a Honda Aviator. While we have made some short trips on it, my friend wanted to put the scooty through its paces and see if it could be used

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-25593669488088247562010-01-22T18:52:00.009+05:302010-01-30T23:37:23.604+05:30

Photoset | SlideshowTowards the end of October last year, a couple of my friends (ya, the same ones I accompanied for trips to Matheran, Uttarakhand and Corbett early last year and to Bandhavgarh, Kanha and Pachmarhi before that) decided I needed some cheering and a break. Add to it that one of them had just acquired a Fiat Punto and wanted to notch up some decent long distance driving. So after

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-53424742080747532062009-12-20T23:46:00.004+05:302009-12-20T23:53:17.142+05:30

Arts, Culture, LiteratureOPEN Magazine | Silent Bestsellers (Indian Writings in English) : http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/books/silent-bestsellersFantasy & Sci-Fi Magazine Art: http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/36092/fantasy--sci-fi-magazine-artTravel - 25 Authentic Asian Experiences: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1934455,00.html10 worst phrases

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-86471355850646497972009-12-13T18:38:00.003+05:302009-12-13T18:46:03.010+05:30

Apologies for the delay in posting this one - No connectivity for most of yesterday and when finally I could access the Internet, data seemed to be percolating through thick molasses.Arts, Culture, LiteratureClassic Twitterature - University of Chicago students reinterpret great works of literature into Twitter-speak: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/Classic-Twitterature-78848847.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-55920699768465875702009-12-05T23:56:00.002+05:302009-12-06T00:04:34.185+05:30

Arts, Culture, LiteratureTop Words of 2009: http://www.languagemonitor.com/news/top-words-of-2009Business and EconomicsDo prostitutes want prostitution to be legal? Is a pimp no different than a corporate manager? More Q&A: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/superfreakonomics-book-club-sudhir-venkatesh-answers-your-prostitution-questions/#more-22489The dark side of Dubai: http://

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-23149506763938197042009-11-28T23:41:00.003+05:302009-11-29T03:05:33.653+05:30

Arts, Culture, Literature"Publishing is changing. I’m ready to see what it turns into and change my expectations with it." http://bit.ly/1weHjvHow Twitter Makes You A Better Writer: http://www.copyblogger.com/twitter-writing/Business and EconomicsThe amazing world of Coca-Cola (infographic): http://www.busmanagement.com/news/coca-cola/Education, e-LearningEducational games and interactivities

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-64351877483150884632009-11-21T22:35:00.001+05:302009-11-21T22:40:27.318+05:30

This is the first Tweet Trove — a selective digest of the links I posted on Twitter in the last week. To read all my tweets (including the inane ones) or to follow me on Twitter, head on over to my Twitter page—InkScrawl.Books, Reading, Writing, Popular Culture . . . (Basically, Literature and Arts)"One of the essential joys of reading is the serendipitous encounter with a new word." http://

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-39502806606407686672009-11-19T14:06:00.003+05:302009-11-19T14:13:15.255+05:30

Pigeon: Impossible is the tale of Walter, a rookie secret agent faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase.A hilarious 6-minute romp through the streets of Washington D.C. as a rookie secret agent fights to save himself, and the world from the chaos reigned down by a

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-72107917102725195042009-11-18T13:00:00.004+05:302009-11-18T13:06:53.501+05:30

(click the picture for a larger image)Does the Big Ben find the Bong of its dreams? Follow the Big Ben on Twitter to find out.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-376042570334000952009-11-17T14:08:00.002+05:302009-11-17T14:12:06.505+05:30

I have been on Twitter for sometime now: You can follow me on Twitter at Ink Scrawl. It started as a curiosity — I wanted to explore microblogging and check first hand how it works and if it can be used in my work as a part of any e-Learning/training solutions. Off late I think I have settled on how I could use Twitter: to post the links that I find of interest to me and occasionally to post an

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-82554672099237157422009-10-18T22:44:00.003+05:302009-10-18T23:10:20.313+05:30

The Guardian Books Blog has a post on the premise of Susan Hill's book: Howards End is on the Landing (read the first chapter here)— While digging around her bookshelves for an elusive book, she soon finds herself waylaid from her original purpose. She finds a book that she hasn't read, and that pulls her on to the next and then another one and the next and many more others. She realizes that

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-36590708461049447532009-10-16T23:27:00.003+05:302009-10-16T23:34:55.835+05:30

Read occasional books, thought occasional thoughts. [. . .] Are you so stale, flat, unbumped, untouched, unscarred, unmoved? Have you no nightmare dreams, secret murders, drugs, or drink in your soul? Is your heart missing, the pulse spent? Did you give over when you were thirty, or were you ever more than a dry biscuit, an unbuttered bun, flat wine? Pleasantly sensual, but never passionate. A

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-29669914373916542902009-10-16T20:08:00.004+05:302009-10-16T20:13:19.935+05:30

No, really. It does.And that e-learning maven, Simply Speaking, tells us how this new research can help us design and develop better e-learning (or even traditional learning) programs.But honestly, we should be ambitious in learning through nonsense. Getting a 1000 monkeys to bang away on a 1000 typewriters is what I would say is a good start.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-16071605066661107112009-10-14T10:01:00.003+05:302009-10-14T10:05:59.287+05:30

There was a desert prairie filled with wind and sun and sagebrush and a silence that grew sweetly up in wildflowers. There was a rail track laid across this silence and now the rail track shuddered.—From Somewhere a Band is Playing by Ray BradburyThese are the best opening lines of a story that I have come across in sometime. Very evocative and beautiful imagery. Somewhere a Band is Playing is a

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-74550282894199103152009-10-13T22:34:00.003+05:302009-10-13T22:44:20.045+05:30

I don't want to give advice to people about their religious beliefs, but I do think that it's not smart to bet against the power of science to figure out the natural world. It used to be, a thousand years ago, that if you wanted to explain why the moon moved through the sky, you needed to invoke God.And then Galileo and Newton came along and realized that there was conservation of momentum, so

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-33334333690828076982009-10-11T21:36:00.007+05:302009-10-11T21:54:50.131+05:30

"The single story creates stereotypes and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story." Chimamanda Adichie, a writer from Nigeria , talks about the danger of telling, writing, listening, or knowing a single story of a person, a people, or a place. She makes a strong plea for a "balance of stories" and how

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-62641593907964214732009-08-25T21:21:00.013+05:302009-08-25T22:18:22.625+05:30

Photoset | SlideshowLast Saturday, along with a couple of friends, I visited what probably is Mumbai's favorite hill-station: Matheran. All of us have been jaded (and generally tired) for some time now. We had been discussing for a couple of weeks, about visiting Matheran for a day trip. The plan actually was finalized on Friday. Saturday morning I boarded a train from Ambernath (where I stay) to

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-9086210111621213342009-08-09T22:15:00.004+05:302009-08-09T22:34:28.876+05:30

Warning: Mild spoilers aheadA Da Vinci Code for kids? Actually Chasing Vermeer is far better and accurate than The Da Vinci Code. Mystery and secrets surround the work of the great painter Johannes Vermeer. Around an art theft, a painting by Vermeer called A Lady Writing, Blue Balliett twines patterns, puzzles, blue M & Ms, coincidences, secret letters, and codes. Into this mix she throws a

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-59154722917557992262009-07-17T13:34:00.002+05:302009-07-17T13:38:17.772+05:30

Daisy looked up at him with the kind of expression that Jesus might have given someone who had just explained that he was probably allergic to bread and fishes, so could He possibly do him a quick chicken salad: there was pity in that expression, along with almost infinite compassion.— From Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-3433128123826989792009-06-08T12:58:00.002+05:302009-06-08T13:06:08.941+05:30

[. . .] many contemporary writers are notably silent about a key area of our lives: our work. If a proverbial alien landed on earth and tried to figure out what human beings did with their time simply on the evidence of the literature sections of a typical bookstore, he or she would come away thinking that we devote ourselves almost exclusively to leading complex relationships, squabbling with

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-60033362607137528722009-05-01T11:22:00.000+05:302009-05-01T11:22:41.019+05:30

"So my tale has begun?" Poison asked, brushing her black hair behind her ear."Yes.""So why can't I see it?""Because all the pages are blank."Poison made a noise of incomprehension."You can't tell half a tale, Poison. You can't write half a book. Whatever you choose to do next will completely change the aspect of what has gone before. If you decided to suddenly kill your friends as they slept—""

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-47919220470389225552009-04-27T15:00:00.004+05:302009-05-31T11:37:35.084+05:30

My road trip through Uttarakhand, Jim Corbett National Park, Agra, and Delhi was remarkable for the sheer number of beautiful landscapes, colorful birds, and remarkable animals that we came across. The trip was also enlivened by some notable experiences. While there were quite a few of these experiences, for your edification, I am describing two of them here.Music for the DriveWe had hired a car

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-58791854433724798752009-04-25T23:56:00.025+05:302009-05-31T11:37:08.455+05:30

I returned from my road trip through some parts of states Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi about a fortnight back. As I had foreseen in my last post, I did feel too lazy to post about the trip the minute I got back to Mumbai and then a couple of days later, the office sat up and clamored for all my attention. A couple of weeks of that and I find my memories of all the places we visited are in

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-70095550479154269942009-03-27T13:24:00.004+05:302009-03-27T17:19:41.757+05:30

I am away for the next couple of weeks — Going with a couple of friends (we had visited Bandhavgarh, Kanha, and Pachmarhi last year) for a road trip through some parts of the state of Uttaranchal and a bit of Uttar Pradesh.The trip is divided into three parts. The first part is largely unplanned (or loosely planned). We are flying to Delhi tonight and then driving through the night to reach

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-10678151411144627072009-03-26T13:49:00.004+05:302009-03-26T14:06:29.217+05:30

Our deity created this world in a single day. Although we use the word "tree" in our "Tree of Life", nothing is beyond its powers. And, of course, he created the female of the Kappa species. Finding existence tedious, the female Kappa began a search for the male Kappa. And our deity, taking pity on her lamentations, took her brain and made of it the male Kappa. Then, giving this Kappa-couple his

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-4953521475872737252009-03-23T17:56:00.005+05:302009-03-23T18:17:36.851+05:30

Pictures  |  SlideshowEvery year in early summer, a number of flamingoes (or flamingos) migrate to this dirty, marshy area called Sewri near Mumbai. Sewri is next to the Arabian Sea and the flamingoes flock to the "beach" which is exposed as the tides recede to feast on the fish and other seafood left behind by the sea.With two friends in tow, I visited Sewri, on March 21st, 2009. We reached

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-21262847764132012532009-03-22T22:48:00.004+05:302009-03-22T23:08:31.134+05:30

Tyler Cowen's and Robin Hanson's opinion: It’s about signaling (a term of art in economics). Your preferences in fiction, and the way you articulate those preferences, signal your attitudes, values, and ideas to others. Fiction thus serves as a way of “getting people in touch with each other.”Basically, they are saying, you read the kind of stuff you do because of it serves as a social marker: it

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-74212276342917675012009-03-22T20:05:00.004+05:302009-03-22T20:27:55.288+05:30

. . . can actually be fun. Geetha Krishnan shows how to attempt Twittering for Sadness (or tries to. He is having way too much fun to be sad).

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-3858993171603221142009-03-19T22:00:00.003+05:302009-03-19T22:07:47.757+05:30

How effective is training in getting people to learn new behaviors? What if the expected behavior is contrary to the nature of the person? (Can you get a salesperson to actually listen to clients and not smother them in sales-speak?) One of the most articulate musings on the role and relevance of training in bringing about behavioral change: Changing Behavior.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-70021778219240891222009-03-19T11:12:00.001+05:302009-03-19T11:14:55.342+05:30

Making the right choices to reduce your water footprint.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-3476541577919910612009-03-17T20:10:00.005+05:302009-03-18T12:33:57.522+05:30

Over at The Publishers Weekly they are playing a game of guessing which books fictional characters might buy (and read) if they were browsing today's book stores. The Guardian too points to the PW piece while speculating on what Huck Finn and Becky Sharp would buy and feels that Sherlock Holmes "would have got on well with a good Agatha Christie." Read both the posts as well as the comments. You

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-67616056030487833852009-03-16T14:33:00.003+05:302009-03-16T14:39:46.634+05:30

My real life villains ... are people with sloppy language habits, who don't articulate their words clearly, especially in call centres. Linguistic laziness is making it difficult for us to understand what our fellow citizens are saying.More here: My Secret Life: Alexander McCall Smith, novelist, 60Earlier posts on Alexander McCall Smith:An Interview With Alexander McCall SmithA Great Honour for

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-49171193061101832042009-03-16T09:47:00.001+05:302009-03-16T09:49:36.035+05:30

Look again at that dot.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-12402642199066711622009-03-06T09:54:00.003+05:302009-03-06T09:58:07.088+05:30

. . . It depends. The e-learning maven explains.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-5222086710148545282009-03-05T13:27:00.004+05:302009-03-05T13:36:46.103+05:30

The unstoppable urge to tweet. Thankfully haven't been afflicted with it, yet (and currently don't feel I will ever be).I do get bouts of the blogging equivalent. My office found me the cure — work :(

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-41447212926587707312009-03-04T19:38:00.001+05:302009-03-04T19:41:48.390+05:30

Short stories lacking coverage? The genre dying out? Not yet. The folks at Harper Perennial are celebrating the short story by sharing a new one every week this year on Fifty-Two Stories — some classics from established authors, some new stories from relatively unknowns. Over the last few weeks they have published pieces from Mary Gaitskill, Louise Erdrich, Willa Cather, and others.Check out

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-83834698205592360092009-03-04T15:38:00.003+05:302009-03-04T17:42:25.248+05:30

The Vatican rejects the atheist notion that evolution proves there is no God as absurd. Why? Because it is not "proven." What proof of God's existence you may ask? Have some faith.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-69319524328236996432009-03-04T10:21:00.001+05:302009-03-04T10:22:43.917+05:30

and comic.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-76862908976325447172009-03-02T14:52:00.007+05:302009-03-03T16:04:17.705+05:30

. . . on Twitter.I got myself a Twitter account over the weekend. Wanted to try out micro-blogging — just for the heck of it and to explore its possible uses, especially in the work I do.At the moment I am not much enamored by it. There's only so much you can update it before your "tweets" start getting mundane — I mean, how many updates would you put up letting people know that you are off for a

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-73707090399080461012009-03-01T00:12:00.000+05:302009-03-01T00:13:36.902+05:30

Followers of SF and fantasy will have noticed this  — most novels/stories are big fat tomes or are split across trilogies (I am currently reading The Tawny Man trilogy by Robin Hobb after having read The Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Traders trilogy  — and yes, the three trilogies are related) and quartets and what not. It is almost as if a SF & F writer can't tell a tale in a slim volume. An

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-67166842164478990452009-02-28T14:03:00.006+05:302009-03-02T14:43:11.291+05:30

Now I am told, I wasn't wasting time and day-dreaming in all those meetings and training sessions but was actually trying to pay attention. Read — A Sketchy Brain Booster: Doodling.How does one distract oneself now in meetings? Any suggestions?Update — March 02, 2009:Had an extended and enlightening coversation on Gtalk (interspersed with some tweets on Twitter) with e-learning maven Geetha

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-87852981307705032802009-02-25T12:41:00.004+05:302009-03-16T11:42:38.036+05:30

People are considering "Facebook Fasts"  —  giving up Facebook for the 40 days of Lent  —  and joining groups like "Giving up Facebook for Lent" . And some are listing tips on how to go about surviving all this social networking deprivation.What next? Just imagine the possibilities: Giving up Facebook for Navratri, Giving up Facebook for Shravan (or the token, Giving up Facebook for Shravan

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-85613125931534327882009-02-24T19:27:00.002+05:302009-02-25T09:54:45.768+05:30

Meandering across the World Wide Web, I came across this post by Robert Gray on Fresh Eyes Now — The Delicate Art of Reading in Public — in which he said that he felt self-conscious while reading in public. At the end of that post, he asked "How do you feel about reading in public?” That spun off another one: Where Do You Love to Read? in which Gray collates some of the responses to the

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-53721253194523570822009-02-24T17:30:00.001+05:302009-02-24T17:31:48.744+05:30

The art of writing consists in putting two things together that are unlike and that belong together like a horse & cart. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-59072531950937984262009-02-24T16:55:00.000+05:302009-02-24T16:57:12.065+05:30

30 novels worth buying for the cover alone.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-57115040817169592412009-02-22T23:12:00.002+05:302009-02-22T23:17:54.149+05:30

Johann Hari responds to the riots, outcry, and the hysteria in Kolkata around his earlier article:  Stand up for the Right to Criticise Religion.The answer to the problems of free speech is always more free speech:[. . .] You do not have a right to be ring-fenced from offence. Every day, I am offended – not least by ancient religious texts filled with hate-speech. But I am glad, because I know

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-81210631481783342872009-02-22T23:08:00.001+05:302009-02-22T23:12:24.805+05:30

This guardian of Indian Culture is planning to file defamation cases against the senders of "panties parcel."Earlier posts: A 1,000 Sarees for a 1,000 ChaddiesPink Chaddies for Valentine's Day

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-32042841396748428512009-02-17T09:46:00.003+05:302009-02-17T09:58:41.696+05:30

Hamlet wonders if he should continue to exist. Or not.Hamlet thinks Ophelia might be happier in a convent.Ophelia removed "moody princes" from her interests.Hamlet—Facebook News, Feed Edition by Sarah Schmelling.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-42619791952480882052009-02-11T15:07:00.002+05:302009-02-11T15:16:56.820+05:30

This February 14th, I had said earlier, is going to be one interesting Valentine's Day.In response to The Pink Chaddi Campaign, rediff reports  Sri Ram Sena's Muthalik will send sarees to the women who send him and his Sena chaddies.Muthalik, in keeping with the traditions established by his Sena has said that women "should debate across the table instead of resorting to such gimmicks."I agree

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-57951476314273028332009-02-10T19:27:00.002+05:302009-02-10T19:36:11.666+05:30

. . . such applications are created?Exhibit 1 — answer.im: Instant messaging answering serviceExhibit 2 — bedpost ("It's business time") : A personal web application that will give you some insight into your sex life. (Alas, no social networking features. Just imagine — a mashup that pulls this into your Facebook profile. Or posts to Twitter.)What next?Links via: Geetha Krishnan

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-62329040255304309632009-02-10T14:41:00.000+05:302009-02-10T14:42:42.449+05:30

Actually, quite a lot.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-8324450237454753332009-02-10T14:38:00.002+05:302009-02-10T14:44:26.133+05:30

Stumbled (admittedly quite late) across this attempt  by the The Guardian  — which neatly catalogues the books in seven categories: War &Travel, Science Fiction & Fantasy, State of the Nation, Family & Self, Comedy, Crime, and Love.How many of these have you read?

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-4656205592045694942009-02-10T12:52:00.001+05:302009-02-10T12:55:45.444+05:30

Well, someone's gotta be on the other end of the string.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-7131608409569839192009-02-09T10:07:00.001+05:302009-02-09T10:10:46.341+05:30

If you have a pink chaddi (or are willing to buy one), take part in The Pink Chaddi Campaign and send it on to the Sri Ram Sena.If you don't have one, not to fret, you can join the Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women on Facebook. Of course, you can join the Facebook group as well as send a pink chaddi to Sri Ram Sena.Pink chaddies and Pub Bharo on Valentine's day . . . you have to

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-66814721360753989242009-02-02T09:56:00.001+05:302009-02-02T09:58:26.914+05:30

What is there other than this?

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-72573811410071326062009-02-02T09:48:00.001+05:302009-02-02T09:56:17.655+05:30

The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English.Now, if you will excuse me, the tintinnabulation of my cell phone cuts short my peregrinations across the world wide web.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-55239451202711208082009-02-02T09:42:00.000+05:302009-02-02T09:45:00.802+05:30

. . . and more examples of the Cupertino Effect: How Spellcheckers Wreak Havoc

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-7184898819943764732009-01-28T13:17:00.007+05:302009-01-28T13:50:13.783+05:30

Yearly, hundreds of words are discarded by lexicographers from the dictionary to make way for new words. Lexicographers spend hours researching word usage, scanning publications and other communications, and may drop words that are no longer in use.The process works in reverse too. The lexicographers also look out for words that make their way back in usage again and these words are re-entered in

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-2476563778834668282009-01-13T15:40:00.019+05:302009-01-15T15:53:03.040+05:30

(Or) To Ashtavinayak, Tuljapur, Kolhapur, and Back Again in 45 HoursYep, rub your eyes, and read that again — Ashtavinayak, Tuljapur, Kolhapur, and back again inside of two days. We did it. Over the 8th and 9th (and a bit of the 10th) of January 2009. This post will tell you how. And more.Pre-requisites: One crazy brotherOne vehicle (preferably the SUV types, we used a Scorpio)One good driverOne

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-36812623895431543282009-01-05T14:17:00.005+05:302009-01-05T14:31:19.373+05:30

It looks like Delicious doesn't have much confidence in Google's "Do no evil" philosophy.When Google launched its browser — Chrome — it also published this webcomic which looked under the hood of the browser and explained the key engineering decisions taken in designing the browser.I had bookmarked the Chrome webcomic to my Delicious account when it was published. Today, I was trawling through my

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-7878910016597773942009-01-05T11:30:00.000+05:302009-01-05T11:33:17.806+05:30

Jump onto a double-decker bus. A psychologist's research suggests that depending on your seat preference on a double-decker you can fall into seven distinct personality groups.But what about the people who travel by single-decker buses? And what about those poor souls who hang by a finger and a toe to a BEST bus in Mumbai?

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-84183791733679495602009-01-05T11:12:00.000+05:302009-01-05T11:15:13.107+05:30

Anybody out there who doubts technology and cartoon humor don't fit?

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-6667882408522772462009-01-02T12:45:00.001+05:302009-01-02T12:47:28.632+05:30

According to a new study too much thinking 'can make you fat.'

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-11666633187982488502008-12-31T12:26:00.009+05:302009-01-07T13:34:02.618+05:30

Many writers have taken a story from the Bible, layered it with their ideas and interpretations, developed the characters, and fleshed an entire novel from a few lines. Of these Biblical stories, the tale of Noah and the Flood, from Genesis, surely is one that has be told and retold many times before. Julian Barnes, for one, did a wonderfully irreverent account of the story through the eyes of a

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-45882733213337730302008-12-31T11:21:00.002+05:302008-12-31T12:42:30.648+05:30

The Context:The deck of Noah's (or Noe's, as he is called in this book) ark is covered in birds. Ilya (Noe's daughter-in-law), each time she looks at that great whirl of birds, has only one thought in her mind — There should be some way to organize them — not physically in rows or something, as she explains to her husband, Cham, but in categories, waders and forest dwellers, insect-eaters and

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-76820671342021261982008-12-30T14:30:00.015+05:302009-01-19T20:12:43.361+05:30

Picked up (and copy-pasted) from Geetha Krishnan.Things you’ve already done: bold = 30 (actually 29.5)Things you want to do: italicize = 35 Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font = 341. Started your own blog. (And stopped. And started again) 2. Slept under the stars. (The last time I did that, I was in Pokhara, Nepal)3. Played in a band. 4. Visited Hawaii. (One day, when

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-24256925368544552892008-12-30T14:02:00.001+05:302008-12-31T11:27:27.444+05:30

The Context:Noe (as Noah - he of the biblical ark fame - is called in this book), has a direct line to god — which the god uses at regular intervals to outline his plans and how he expects Noe to execute them. This is one such interaction between Noe (who is a 'fundamentalist' in his faith in his god) and Yahweh, the god, who has been chracterized as in the Old Testament - megalomaniac, cranky,

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-37673391520282938512008-12-29T16:08:00.010+05:302009-01-07T13:46:13.444+05:30

Regular readers of this blog (if there are any in that category still left out there) will know that my commute to and from the office offers some of the weirdest experiences. I have had my share of some incredible “WTF?!” experiences earlier — you either overhear something that is totally ripe or you are an unwilling participant in one. For a very long time there was nothing of note (it could

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-2537446826917017902008-12-27T18:13:00.002+05:302008-12-29T18:12:24.190+05:30

Papa says God is in everything and especially living things. If that's true then there must be an awful lot of God in snails and ants and leeches and spiders and locusts and crickets and moths. But I don't know how it works exactly. Does a cow have more God in it than an ant? Do a million ants have more God than a cow? And what about people—does a person have more God in him than one of Ilya's

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-66848675134919411412008-12-26T17:35:00.003+05:302008-12-29T18:12:52.660+05:30

Men are so amusing. Show them a pack of wolves, dominated by the males, and they will say, See? It is natural for men to rule.Fine. But produce a beehive, controlled by the queen, with males used for menial labor, and they protest, Human beings are not insects.Yes, well.—From The Flood by David MaineWouldn't you agree?I received The Flood by David Maine — a 'retelling' of the story of Noah (or

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-13920740056391625992008-12-26T15:31:00.010+05:302009-03-23T18:11:14.235+05:30

Ages ago, in March this year, I had written about the plan to visit the wildlife sanctuaries of Bandhavgarh and Kanha to see the local flora and fauna up close and personal. While the trip happened (and what an experience it was), sadly work and life caught up with me immediately on return, ensuring that no blogging about it happened at all.I came back from my trip to the forests of Madhya

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-59437995289365062682008-11-25T18:02:00.002+05:302008-11-25T19:10:04.920+05:30

Apologies for not updating this blog for so long . . . Have been, and continue to be, very occupied with work and something that I suppose one may label as my 'real life.' This blog is unlikely to be updated any time soon, at least not for the next few months. I will try to get back to posting as soon as I can. Meanwhile, please to excuse and explore the archives.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-40238353381875756772008-03-07T14:37:00.010+05:302008-12-13T18:50:08.567+05:30

. . . Hence I need a break from it every now and then (wouldn't it be excellent if humans had to hibernate too?).Well, for the next couple of weeks, the living continues, but not the working. I am off with a couple of friends to Madhya Pradesh tonight. We are visiting the wildlife sanctuaries of Bandhavgarh and Kanha and giving the local flora and fauna a chance to see us up close and personal.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-87805014108583307152008-03-06T11:50:00.003+05:302008-03-06T18:01:10.285+05:30

What I always suspected:Benny Shanon's drug-focused reading of the Bible proves Moses saw God because he was stoned.What about other religions and prophets? Don't you agree most of them (ok, all of them) in today's world would have been either in a rehab clinic or receiving psychiatric treatment?Link via: Ajeya Row

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9982477.post-85549582740992271832008-03-06T11:29:00.002+05:302008-03-06T11:31:43.992+05:30

. . . of a fantastic drink: The Many Uses of Vodka.

mandar talvekarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17060905096456474640noreply@blogger.com0