How Religions Spread!

A interesting graphic display of how religions spread throughout the world. Enjoy! Thought this would be of interest.

The Emergency in Pakistan

Guess Pervez Musharraf is one desperate man. He is clinging to power like everything depends on how long he can be suspended over the cliff’s edge. Pakistan has again failed its people. An aborted election and, now, the emergency. An emergency has very unpleasant associations, especially in the sub-continent.

What I see are armed men guarding the roads and multitudes of people protesting on television. Common enough sights in an India wracked by the fever of emergency in the seventies; and which Pakistan is undergoing now. He justified his actions in a national address to the people of Pakistan, saying he was curbing a rise in extremism in Pakistan.

Pervez Musharraf | Pakistan |

More on the Blank Noise Project and Street Harassment!

This further to the Blank Noise Project in which I had participated some time ago. The project, if you do not already know, is about Street Harassment of women. Now, I work above a busy train station, and one of my favorite hobbies is to loll near the entrance/exit of Vashi with a cup of coffee and watch people. Hey, people, no ulterior motive, but this is what I like to do. There’s a smorgasbord of human beings in various moods, preoccupations, attitudes, clothes, states of mind, stages of life, etc. on view and I really like to look at them, being the writer I am.

I just returned from my coffee break. What I saw proves that the Indian male needs to re-look his sexual attitude towards women. (Even I may be at fault here, am in for a lot of introspection in this column here.) I mean there’s a lot wrong with his very sexuality. No, I won’t say depraved because the cause, I guess, lies deeper, in the very attitude of “Oh, I can get away with it, so why shouldn’t I?”

I was watching, sipping my coffee, as a buxom girl in a rather tight tee-shirt was walking with a music device in her ear. A man was walking behind her and suddenly he increased his pace, diverted the direction of his walk across her path, aimed one of his shoulders straight at her breast, caressed it with the outer edge of the musculature around the humerus bone, and walked on. As I was watching, he saw me and knew that I had found him out, and looked abashed. The girl didn’t even know what happened; she was too much into her music.

First of all, he didn’t have to break strides, and didn’t have to walk directly across her path, because a lot of space was available to him, but he did. And the girl didn’t even look at him, which means she is so used to this overtly-sexual behavior that it didn’t register. The man walked ahead, and lost himself in the crowd. (This is my response to the Blank Noise Project.) I don’t know if the tight round-neck tee-shirt was the provocation, or what?

I heard that close circuit television has been installed at stations like Victoria Terminus (VT, I prefer to call it by that name, as I think I would offend my childhood if I call it anything else). Have they caught anyone so far?

Blank Noise Project |

The Consequences of Global Warming! Must See This Video!

A bit scary, but something we have to be forewarned about. The consequences if we take action on the many cassandra-like predictions on the global warming front, and if we don't. Most likely, we are headed for trouble, as can be seen by erratic weather patterns throughout the world. I am one of the ardent advocates of carbon trading and using public transport.

As a matter of fact, I always use public transport and this morning the crowd was more than a bit obliging. They softly and tenderly pushed me out on the platform at Vashi station using a lot of bhaiyaa, bhaisaab, uncle, and aap. Felt nice to be treated in such a gentlemanly manner, so to speak. But, must admit it was hot. Global warming, eh?

Delusion in the Indian Web World, Kya Karen

Delusion is a bad thing. When delusion happens in the web world, it is amusing, or, shall I say, sad. Really, and delusion on the Indian web world continues to prevail. People, especially Indians, are of the belief that all you need to be successful online is to make a website, fill it with lies, have flashy graphics and people would come to buy whatever shit they offer.

So you lie a lot about your capabilities in SCM, ERP, CRM, and SDLC, and what have you, and still people do not buy. Then you lie a little more. You also copy and paste white lies in your so-called “white papers”, not knowing that being found out could kill you.

And then what happens. You sit and lament after a few millions of your hard earned, or else, borrowed money goes down the drain. What happened? Where did we go wrong?

“Yaar, I had to scrounge, sell my property to raise that money, yaar. यह, कम्बक्त वेबसाइट थो चलता ही नही, कोई आता ही नही.” Common enough complaint, by the way.

What you are doing is basically begging people to buy you’re the concept of your website and your product. So, if you were a consumer would you buy from a store that is badly laid out, has badly trained salespeople, has cheap advertisements all over the wall, and even the owner is an obvious liar. It is an accepted tenet that all advertisements lie. (I know; I have been in that territory before. I was the executive secretary of the Advertising Standards Council of India, which is the regulator and controller for the truthfulness of Indian advertising.)

I digress. And what do these become-rich-overnight entrepreneurs do for content on websites. “Copy and paste, mere dost, who will know?” I think there is a basic dishonesty in every Indian that makes them say this. They have a very pervasive contempt for the creative types, and the creative process. As a fledgling content writer, keen to make my mark in the world, I was told this, and sadly, even now I am told this. No need for me to say that piracy is rampant in the Indian net world.

Web DevelopmentIndia

What Reading Novels Can Change

This is the answer to what I have been seeking for a long time. Why should people read novels, in fact, why should people read any fiction at all? What do they get by immersing themselves in what happens in other peoples' minds, their dreams, their aspirations, and, generally, what they go through in their lives. How does reading about other people touch us, like a good music score touches us, so does a good movie. Amos Oz, original name Amos Klausner, Israeli novelist, short-story writer, and essayist has a lot to say in this Britannica Blog article (What Reading Novels Can Change -Britannica Blog).

Do read and comment.

This Blog Gets a Dmoz Listing!

Dmoz.org is the world's only human edited open directory. And, hmm, this blog has got a Dmoz listing recently (see picture above, bit hazy, but okay). Ask any search engine specialist and he/she will tell you that not every blog or website gets a Dmoz listing. The reason is that unlike Google that sends a robot to search the site, Dmoz sends human beings, i.e., men and women of the homo sapien species.

So, today I will uncork the bubblies, anyone wants to join in?

Dmoz | Google |

Happenings in Literary Fora - My Take

One drawback of being in literary forums is that criticism and critiques come from unexpected corners, from unexpected people, whom you trusted thinking, well, um, huh, so-and-so is a fellow word warriors in the fight for literary recognition. But some of them are motivated; some of them are just plain weird. And, some blurt things without even thinking of the consequences, they just want their shrill and complaining voices heard above the general hubbub of voices. I speaketh the truth!

Recently I was hauled up for writing as if I was a youngster, a young adult, rather. Write about someone who is older, you know, act your age, the criticism alleged. So, haven’t I been through all that, earlier in my mis-spent youth? Don’t I understand what my colleagues (most whom are younger than me) are going through in their lives? What got my goat was something I perceived as being personal comment about my age and my writing. If the aim was to discourage me, I am made of sterner stuff, let me warn them.

And if those comments came from extremely talented writers – you know the Arundhati Roy types – I would have been obviously worried. But the comments are coming from people who haven’t attempted a single short story (at least, what I would call a short story, not some hazy situation or character sketches), and so-called writers whose attention span isn’t long enough to listen to a short story or poem without scratching their heads. I wonder if they have the patience to finish a novel. Or, they may be reading the first few pages just to claim they have read the book! It take all kinds, hmm!

Online Literary Fora |

Literary Acquisitions - October 31

Following are the current acquisitions made by publishers from literary agencies around the world, through the kindest courtesy of Publishersmarketplace.com.

FICTION

Debut

London Observer's New York correspondent Paul Harris's Freetown, about a journalist covering the conflict in Sierre Leone, who, in search of answers to the mysterious and sudden murder of his aid-worker girlfriend, unearths a web of conspiracy and corruption -- pitched as in the spirit of John Le Carre, and inspired by the author's own first-hand experience as a war correspondent, to Trena Keating at Dutton, in a very nice deal, by Elizabeth Sheinkman at Curtis Brown UK (NA). Elizabeth@curtisbrown.co.uk Translation: Betsy@curtisbrown.co.uk Dutch rights to De Bezige Bij, in a pre-empt.

Mystery/Crime

Ira Berkowitz's Old Flame, a gritty noir set in Hell's Kitchen, in the vein of the author's debut Family Matters, to Julian Pavia for Three Rivers Press, in a two-book deal, by David Larabell at David Black Literary Agency.Rights: sraihofer@dblackagency.com

Malla Nunn's A Beautiful Place to Die, set in South Africa at the time of the introduction of apartheid, to Emily Bestler at Atria, at auction, by Catherine Drayton at Inkwell Management, on behalf of Cameron Creswell. catherine@inkwellmanagement.com

Thriller

International bestselling author Ken Follett's The Century Trilogy, focusing on personal dramas set against the looming background of world-changing Twentieth Century historical events up through the Cold War, now officially sold, again to Leslie Gelbman at NAL and Brian Tart at Dutton, for hardcover publication in 2010, 2012, and 2014, by Amy Berkower at Writers House (US).

Women's/Romance

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen author Syrie James's new novel, in which Charlotte Bronte, en route to becoming a famous author, reveals the truth behind her turbulent relationship with the man she finally came to love and marry, again to Lucia Macro at Avon, by Tamar Ellman Rydzinski at Laura Dail Literary Agency (World English). Trydzinski@ldlainc.com

General/Other

Nicholas Drayson's A Guide to The Birds of East Africa, set in contemporary Kenya with a very unlikely hero, who falls in love with a woman on their monthly guided bird walk but has to compete for her affections with his old school bully, in the form of a competition to spot as many separate species of birds in a week, to Jane Rosenman at Houghton Mifflin, in a nice deal, for publication in July 2008, by Peter Robinson at Robinson Literary Agency (US).

Nelson Algren Literary Award winner and author of Hairstyles of the Damned Joe Meno's The Great Perhaps, the story of an eccentric family in the weeks leading up to the 2004 presidential election: two bumbling professors, two strange daughters, and a grandfather limiting himself to thirteen words a day, then twelve, then eleven -- one less each day until he will speak no more, to Tom Mayer at Norton, by Maria Massie at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.

Paperback

Rights to Natalie Robins and Steven Aronson's out of print SAVAGE GRACE, first published in 1985, to tie in with the release of a film version starring Julianne Moore in December 2007, the story of the epic downfall of the heirs to the Bakelite plastics fortune, a tale of money and madness, incest and matricide, to Amanda Patten at Touchstone Fireside, by the authors.

Film

Edgar nominee Megan Abbott's Die a Little, to Jessica Biel and United Artists, by Shari Smiley at CAA, in association with Paul Cirone of Friedrich Agency.

Christopher Rush's Will, the fictional autobiography of William Shakespeare, to SBK Pictures, Sir Ben Kingsley's production company (World).

Children's: Fantasy

Inara Scott's Delacroix: The Choice, in which a high-school freshman must deal with a new school that may or may not have something fishy about it, two very different boys, and her own superpowers, to Jennifer Besser at Hyperion, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, by Tamar Ellman Rydzinski at Laura Dail Literary Agency. TRydzinski@ldlainc.com

Children's: Young Adult

Screenwriter Andrew Klavan's Homelanders, pitched as Twenty Four meets The Bourne Identity; homeless, broke, and unable to find his parents, a teenager has to outrun both terrorists and the law with only a few days to stop the murder of the Secretary of State in a race against time that brings him face-to-face with a master assassin, to Amanda Bostic at Thomas Nelson, in a four-book deal, by Alyssa Eisner Henkin and Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group.

Literary Acquisitions |

Why Most Men DIE before women!

Time for a laugh. And women would laugh really good and hard at this:

Laughing my ASS off!: Why Most Men DIE before you women!


Why Men Die Before Women |