Polls, blog meet, theatre and bad technology...

It has been a poverty of sorts this blogging season. Just two posts, some screwed up page design (which I've since fixed) and of course the holidaying muse. Such a pity, because it's not as if life has been dull or uneventful.
On the contrary, in fact, with the elections providing great entertainment.
As they do every single time. I look at the whole thing as a circus that's tented in town for a really long while. The similarities are obvious: they have the jokers, the trapeze artists, the gymnasts, the fire-eaters, the animals and the ringmaster (election commission?) swishing his whip around ever so often. If only, if only it were not so crucial that we elect sensible agents of power, it would be simply hilarious; we'd just be able to kick our chairs back and laugh to our hearts content. Indeed, it is such a pity.

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I actually made it to another bloggers' meet, despite my rather maddenning schedule. I'd played hookey so many times to feel guilty enough to attend this one, convened jointly by Hari and Ravi. There were meant to be more, but we landed up be a rather comfortable foursome, with Princess Pavithra bringing up the tail. Now, she SO looks like a friend of mine from college that I wondered for several moments if she was indeed what she said she was! :) But, boy, it was fun with lovely aloo bondas at Woodlands Drive-in.

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As was Tim Supple's MiDsummer Night's Dream (no aloo bondas in this one, but a rather dainty hand-fan). The Indo-Sri Lanka production, which used at least six languages, much acrobatics and some good music was quite an entertainer too. It put the purists off completely, and predictably too, but as I am inclined, these days, towards an appreciation of experiments with form in art, I was definitely pleased.

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It has been a completely bad technology month for me. Blogspot was just one bad egg in the basket. A newly purchased second hand computer and a brand new UPS are giving me problems. Mercifully May is just a day away and it might be different. Hotter, yes, but also better luck? Eh?

Damn controversial

Medha Patkar fast - Google Image Search, originally uploaded by errum.

Much water has flown under the dam, but I'm truly glad Medha Patkar has finally ended her fast.
I'm not saying this merely because my creativity has gone holidaying and I have nothing else to blog about, but becuase I think once in a while a personal blog must provide space for a larger cause.
Which is what the Narmada Bachao Andolan represents.
Atrocities have been committed in the name of rehabilitation of those displaced by the proposed raising of the dam. Even as the government claimed that it had implemented the rehabilitation and resettlement packages, Medha Patkar's fast served to show how it was only sham. The report of the Group of Ministers (GoM) alone suffices to throw light on the hitherto dark side of the dam.
For an inventory of the violations, as recorded by the GoM, read here.
I don't often do this, but I think I'd like to salute Medha Patkar for her courage, commitment and persistence. I also hope, naively perhaps, that this is but the beginning, that there must be some remedies in the air, if not the water.

NOISE!

Remember the Blank Noise project? Well, I've wondered why Chennai was not a part of it.
Now, finally, Blank Noise is here, not merely virtually, but in flesh and blood. Exactly how much flesh and blood, we decide by turning up at:

Woodlands Cafe, Narada Gana Sabha, April 14, 2005 at 7 p.m. and

NOT

Barista, Khader Nawaz Khan Road, on April 11, 2005 at 7 p.m., as I said before. I think the changes were recent. Thanks Ramkumar for pointing it out.

And yes, we'd appreciate it if you could make some noise, about the cause, of course.

To get it from the horse's mouth, check Blank Noise's Call for Volunteers

And no, I don't think we meant just the ladies! The gents, who agree with us, can also turn up.

P.S. I'm not in town on 14th. Travel plans fixed a week ago, so I don't think that can be changed. What a pity, I was SO looking forward to going to the meeting on 11th.