Harini Calamur's Writings
Bhimsen Joshi having a lot of fun, signing this very famous composition in Raga Yaman. It is a drut bandish – drut (fast tempo), and bandish (literally a composition that is relatively fixed).  I have, in my collection somewhere, the same bandish sung by…
Interesting read on why Twitter is dying Here’s my tiny theory, in a word. Abuse. And further, I’m going to suggest in this short essay that abuse — not making money — is the great problem tech and media have. The problem of abuse is the…
Every year, for the media studies programme that I have been teaching for the last decade or so, i try and set assignments that get students thinking. The course, in addition to the syllabus, has documentary viewing, reading of select articles and…
Mumbai’s changing landscape – On July 12th this year, i moved my family from the wadala place we were renting, to Kherwadi in Bandra East – just off the highway. The rent is steeper than Wadala (but not by much) – but…
There are men. and men. and men. I can go as far as to say, that each man is a unique specimen, replete with his own set of idiosyncrasies (as is each woman). However, as far as popular fiction is concerned there…
Currently reading, Gail Omvedt on Ambedkar : Toward’s an enlightened India . Began reading it on the flight, back to Mumbai. The military then, as now, seems to bea  non-discriminatory haven. Bhiva and his brothers had never experienced untouchability in their earlier military homes,…
Last year I had visited Benaras, on work. I managed to get away for both the Ganga Aarti in the evening, and a boat ride on the Ganga, in the morning. It was also the first time i got to properly play…
When i was reading Orwell’s Collection of Essays – i made extensive notes. (and one of the good things about making notes when you are reading an ebook, is that you can mark a book without  feeling guilty). Everytime i used a…
Revisiting Orwell. Picked up his collected works from amazon, at a princely sum of Rs.49. In fact, just last week i discovered his collection of essays, that I had got before (for the kindle) and forgotten about. Unlike a traditional book shelf,…
I have been at a loss for words.  They simply don’t flow anymore. I have anaysed it – why don’t you write, i ask myself, as an external analyst trying to solve a problem? Do you not care about anything anymore to write about it;…