Batti gul…. डिसेंबर 17, 2007

So Mumbai follwed Sydney for setting a example for reduction in emission levels if carbon a global threat. At Sydney the blackout idea was planned for creating awarness against global warming and acheived 90% sucess in it. Citizens volantarily switced off the lights for an hour which is called as “Earth Hour” to create awarness.
But in case of Mumbai, though hoardings were put up in prominent places, radios messages relayed many of the citizens were left unaware. Many still claim they heard the siren of BMC to switch off the lights. In many residential complexes people did switch off the lights put the effect was minimal. It was said that even the teachers created awarness against global warming in schools and children volantarily participated in Batti bandh.

Though in some buidlings in Marine Drive had turned their lights off, many of them still hadnt. Two big corporates switched off the lights one day before but on saturday they were turned on.
Out side in subburbs, it wasnt voluntary support for global warming, but compalsary load shedding for 4-6 hours. In suburbs where most of the people residing is working class who travel all the way to earn bread in Mumbai city in wee hours of morning only to return late in night find compulsary loadsheding for hours together.

One cannot blame either, we cannot expect do like sydney in just 1 hour. Atleast the media has taken up the issue on front pages now. A little of 10 % awareness is created but still there is a long way to go…..

Shiva Dancing डिसेंबर 14, 2007

Shiva Dancing is book my award winning author Bharti Kichner.Till date Bharti has written eight books, four of them as novels and other as cookbooks.Her work as been translated in spanish, dutch, Thai, german and other indian languages. Before startingas a profilic writer, Bharti as worked in IBM as systems engineer and computer systems for many companies in Europe and US.

The book deals with the story of Meena Kumari, a small village girl living in a tiniest village in Rajasthan. This village is not even marked on the map of India. The story starts with Meena getting married to her childhood friend Vishnu at age of seven according to the traditional custom of child marriage which is still prevalent in small villages of Rajasthan.The day she gets married she abducted by dacoits and carried to far far land.From her grandfathers stories, Meena had heard that she is a Rajput-a bearer of warrior culture in India.Feeling the same emotions and turmoil,she doesnt bring a single drop of tear in her eyes. Once she escapes from kidnappers, she does not return to the world she had been living into as she has no directions to lead to her village. Finally a chilless American family adopts her and takes her to America.Brought in to a foreign land, Meena tries to survive in the foriegn land. Finally on the er 35th birthday, Meena is havinga sucessfull track record of beinga systems manager in a leading computer firm, handlinga team of software devlopers and having ahome. Still she rememers her home, her childhood husband and her mother.
On the eve ofher birthday, Meena is being questioned about her career. Meanwhile her adoptive mother is no more and Meena decides to rach to her roots and unite with her culture one more time. The weave of relationship with a San Fransico novelist Antoine Peterson is bitter sweet.Her chosen pathis difficult one, one way leads to her lost love, he country her parents while the other leads to her new home where she has lived for past 28 years and her bew found love interest.Meena Kumari is seven years old and about to marry her best friend, Vishnu Rathan, according to the ancient custom of child marriage when she is abducted from her village in the northwest of India. Although she manages to escape the kidnappers, she does not return to the world she knows. Now, on the eve of her thirty-fifth birthday, Meena has begun to question her fast-track life as a systems manager in San Francisco, the city she had called home for the last twenty-eight years. Her adoptive mother has died, and feeling lonely and homesick, Meena resolves to return to her roots and reclaim her cultural heritage. It is a quest complicated by her relationship with San Francisco novelist Antoine Peterson and by the path she has chosen – one that will lead her to her lost love. Though Meena returns to India and manages to reunite with Vishnu, she discovers her true identity there. What choices will Meena make? Will she return to the United States?

The story is nicely plotted. But most of dealingwith the developemnt of the softwares and most of the technical datas etc. Also the emotional turmoil of Meena is understated if Meena had longings for her home country why didnt she leave US early is the big question. Antoines “Hamlet” type of character is well defined and he supports the story. A circle of 7 years , is well related to the Meenas story as major happening in her life began in multiples of 7.

Overall the book is good read.

Rating 7/10