And it is done. The thirty day project. My way of reclaiming my life and interests, my friends and family, from ennui. When I started the project, I didn’t think I would be able to last the 30 days. Inertia is not so much about the body, as the mind. The mind resists change.

Books Read – Evidence of Suspicion, Poor Economics, Dr.Ambedka’s Words of Freedom,

Books in various stages of completion – Ananda Math, Mrutyunjay

Graphic Novels read –Sita – daughter of Earth, Bhimayana

Comics Read – Ravanayan, Calvin & Hobbes – an Exhibition Catalogue, Bruce Wayne- the road Home

Lots of music heard. Lots of pics clicked. The one thing I haven’t managed to do is watch movies. Saw one documentary, but not 1 film in the last 30 days. need to change that – there was a time I would watch a movie a day. used to enjoy them too.

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I have gotten used to carrying the camera around everywhere. Walking around and clicking pictures. There is a certain dynamic in seeing the world as frames, compositions and colours. It tends to put a distance between the world & I, but that distance has always been there. I am, forever, the outsider. And, that is because I choose to be that.

 

Two cats on a scooter (2 wheeler) outside my house. They like posing for the camera. they were lying apart at different ends of the scooter. the moment the camera came out, the dark cat ambled out and stood behind the orange cat and posed. ———————————–

Interesting reads in the last few days – mostly magazine articles on-line.

Long form journalism seems to be back. Detailed,well researched, well written features that hold reader attention. Seems like journalists do not have a word limit for articles like this.

Reform School – in the Caravan. on how Rahul Gandhi is trying to clean up the Youth Congress. This is a long magazine feature and reads like a business transformation exercise. One can’t help wondering, if in a country where 70% of the population is under 35, whether the Youth Congress itself has any relavence. Unless the Youth Congress, chosen as per the parameters described in the magazine takes, over the Congress and junks the dead wood.

Getting Bin Laden – in the New Yorker – again Long form. A step by step detailing of the events that led up to Osama bin Laden being buried at sea. Reads like a screen play. Won’t be surprised if it becomes the basis for one.

Beijing’s increasing jihadist challenge – in the Hindu was also worth reading. When I read about Beijing’s woes a few days ago, my first reaction was ‘as you sow, so you reap’… I wonder how much more will be the fallout of the US ill-advised policy of supporting the Taliban against the Soviets in the 1980’s. I wonder if the economic crisis would have come to pass. Somehow having a bi-polar world, kept the world a lot safer.

The zombie of neoliberalism can be beaten – through mass direct action – that was truly the Headline of a column in the Guardian. A rant. too many mixed up issues. And, I don’t understand labels. I think it has more to do with Oligopolies and Oligarchies than with any form of economic policy -but I could be wrong 😀

Sustainability – Subroto Bagchi talks about his experiments with sustainability in ways that can be replicated. And also about a real princess who went searching for garbage in Bangalore.

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Today’s news is that Sonia Gandhi is in Sloan Kettering for treatment. Cancer. There have been tweets that suggested that she has been under treatment for 8 months or so. Here is hoping for her quick recovery. Rahul Gandhi has taken charge of the Congress Party. It is going to be an interesting 24 months before the next general elections. I wonder if the number of things that have gone wrong for the Government in the last 8 months or so been a result of the return of the fratricidal war that the Congress has been so well known for. It was a power struggle.

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What next – i think i am going to continue this project …let’s see for how long 😀

Thank you for reading & commenting and the encouragement