What A Collection

Collective nouns are a fascinating quirk in the English language. As the Rinkworks site would put it in their fabulous collection of collective nouns, “One of the craziest oddities of the English language is that there are so many different collective nouns that all mean “group” but which are specific to what particular thing there is a group of: a herd of elephants, a crowd of people, a box of crayons, a pad of paper, etc. There is great diversity of collective nouns associated with animals, from a sleuth of bears to a murder of crows.” There are interesting collective nouns for various professions – a sneer of butlers or a converting of preachers, a blackening of shoemakers and an obeisance of servants. A jail would have a pity of prisoners and maybe even a talent of gamblers.
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Quill and Canvas

There is a quaint little bookstore in Gurgaon, India called Quill and Canvas run by Shobha Sengupta and her husband Vivek. It is what you would expect your own cosy attic to be. Cramped but cosy, full of books of all genres, paintings by contemporary artists all existing cheek by jowl. I remember going there for a panel discussion with Sankarshan Thakur of Tehelka (http://www.tehelka.com/) the magazine that is credited with some sensational exposes, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (media person and economist) and Amit Baruah is the Foreign Editor of Hindustan Times. Read more

Raga Malgunji – 4 Best Songs

Malgunji is a complex Raga of the Khamaj Thaat. John Campana describes Malgunji as having elements of Rageshri, Bageshri and a few subtle touches of Jaijaiwanti. It is popularly described as being a combination of Raga Rageshri (in the ascent) and Raga Bageshri ( in the descent). If traditionally Bageshri evokes feelings of separation from the lover, and Rageshri represents reunion, Malgunji depicts the initial realization of the reunion. I have always tried to get to know a Raga by listening to film music that is based on the classical raga and only after I have trained myself to recognize those patterns do I venture to hear the maestros perform the Raga in its pristine form. I want to share with you four of my all time favorite compositions from Hindi films based on Malgunji. They represent the works of RD Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Kalyanji Anandji and Madan Mohan. Read more

The 6Bridges Interview

We have all heard about being separated from each other by 6 degrees of separation. With some people you wish the degrees of separation would be 600 instead and less than six for the ones you are desperate to meet. The group that started the website at 6bridges.com (their byline says it is “An exclusive global community of Indian Professionals”) did it to connect Indian professionals across the globe. The site focuses on 6 key areas (another six) : Career growth, entrepreneurship, Re-skilling, money management, leisure and professional networking. We got chatting about this and that. Let us cross the 6bridges:
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Do You Have Any Questions?

You have been called for an interview for your dream job. You have subjected yourself to being deep fried at the interviewer’s mercy. Finally, you see signs of the interview coming to a close. They all look ready to call it a day. After you have finished answering the entire range of questions that the potential employers have asked, you are ready to run too. You silently wipe the invisible sweat off your brow and are getting ready to get up from the chair when the hiring manager asks you, “Do you have any questions?” That is an opportunity you could use to your advantage to help gather information that will help you decide whether or not this is the right role or organization for you. Read more

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