language of sand

Kseniya Simonova gushes our emotions with just a handful of sand.

Here is her sand animation of the great patriotic war, courtesy youtube.

language of stone

the ah-ha moment for me the last visit to Orissa was not when i was jostled by thousands of rapturous devotees at the rath yatra. it was fortuitous indeed to have a two week field-trip right when caged gods were given their annual day out.

it was not my four hour long bonding with my rickshaw driver, which ended at midnight, us staring at burning bodies in the crematorium, chugging old monk rum from a bottle. the living and the dead burning.

it was when i saw this face of the konark sun temple, where as Tagore puts it, "here the language of stone surpasses the language of man". this 13th century temple is evidence for trade links with africa. can you locate the giraffe? stop staring at amorous poses and see middle panel.

ah-ha revelations aside. that night at puri burial ground, the dead in flames, the quiet, mutual inebriation and the spontaneous friendships we make, will remain unforgettable.

Feet (feats) that stomped Hitler

Any talk of the 1936 Berlin Olympics will be supine without honors to the man of the hour, Jesse Owens. His feet spent very little time on the track-field and mostly rested on the highest step on the podium with four golds. Hitler refusing to shake the black man's hand is a moving tribute to the significance of his feat. Nonetheless, his was not the only feet that should be credited for spiting Hitler. Hitler's idea of supremacy took another blow on the footballing arena. These feet belonged to Teodoro "Lolo" Fernandez.

Germany had an early exit in the first round games and Hitler had to rely on his birthplace Austria to salvage any pride. In the play-offs, Austria lead 2 - 0 against Peru in the first half. Peru equalized in the next half and slammed two more goals in extra time. Lolo sealed the fate with a goal in the last minute.

The political repercussions of these events are noted in history, and debatable. The immediate reaction was the `Fuhrer' forcing a rematch for foul play. The Peruvian team refused and the whole contingent of the country's athletes withdrew in protest. The event may not be invoked as often as Owen's track blitzkrieg but Lolo is fondly remembered in his homeland Peru. Outside his club team Universitario de Deportes, his statue stands in testimony.

intensity

I cannot stand another afternoon ennui. Give me back my acuity. My thirst.

Would Wagner have borne such weariness and yet written those epic operas? Would the prototypical renaissance man Michelangelo been all that he was and still managed to go through the drudgery of days like this?

Pray, get me out of this.

Self-medication: Three shots of espresso and Baroque music.

Superheroes: The incorruptible Sainath

I respect Orwell. Almost everything about that man is compelling. I side step his works of fiction for the moment and only take up his journalism. The compassion, clarity and reflection in his writing is of high order. He faced the unpleasant facts, before he wrote about them. One has to only read Down and Out to appreciate the keen intelligence, energy, articulation and artistry in one man.

The rural reporter P Sainath belongs to that sparsely populated order. He is the voice of India. Of the real India, the poor India, the starving India. The passionate dinner talk titled "Mass Media, Mass Reality" he delivered a few years ago when I was a graduate student in JNU, remains unforgettable.

Let us celebrate the rock star of Indian journalism. A man with no fear and only loathing for the hypocrisy of the India-only-shining mirage.