Quill and Canvas
May 26, 2009
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
The 6Bridges Interview
May 20, 2009
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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Corporate Novels
February 27, 2009
Career stories are in, and a new set of part-time authors is cashing in on the trend. Bankers, admen, scientists , hoteliers, HR professionals, are all drawing on their experiences to produce ‘corporate novels’ where the careers of the protagonists take up just as much space as their love affairs. And a new generation of readers is lapping it up, says Dibeyendu Ganguly in Corporate Dossier section of Economic Times dated 27 February 2009
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Who Wants a Piece of SlumdogM
February 25, 2009
The euphoria of Oscars in India is still there as a lingering hangover. Everyone is basking in reflected glory - even me. I had predicted two Oscars for AR Rahman in my review of Slumdog Millionaire (see comment dated 8th Feb 09). So there… but the one that takes the cake is the ruling party in India taking credit for the Oscars. I kind of partly support their claim to fame. They are certainly responsible for our slums and the millionaire politicians. Read more
Beyond B-schools
January 26, 2009
Books are flowing from IIT and IIM portals. And they are for the masses
By Mandira Nayar in The Week dated 25th Jan 2009
Dil Chahata Hai changed everything. The movie not only proved that Aamir Khan-with the right haircut and the facial hair-can believably pass for a 25-something, but also that the young in their eccentricity have their own vocabulary. The DCH moment opened up doors for writers and film directors to finally use personal experiences to tell India’s urban story.
Rohithari Rajan, 29, an IIM-A graduate, probably never realised selling soap had fringe benefits (other than rare free samples). Stranded in villages he could barely identify on a map on a rural stint with Hindustan Unilever, Rajan decided to venture into a territory that his degree would have never prepared him for-fiction. Read more
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