Bits and pieces of recent history

Anoushka Shankar, Ravi's other daughter, performed Sunday night with her classical ensemble. Breathtaking! 

                                                                                           Photo from The Hindu

On Friday, saw the Jumbo Circus, a delightfully seedy experience featuring sullen acrobats, desultory dwarf clowns and justifiably uncooperative animals, including a parrot that got into a tiff with a cockatiel. Sprinkled throughout, though, were suitably high-risk performances on the high wire, trapeze and the "Wall of Death," where three men on motorcycles in a globe-shaped steel cage spun around one another from different directions in a near-miss frenzy; reminded me of Chennai traffic. 

                               Here are four circus snaps snared from The Hindu, and two of my own:

Another day, another flaming chandelier act.   

Went with Alphonse and crew.


Earlier this month, The Hindu's Lit for Life festival  brought a flock of writers and performers to Chennai.
Highlights (for me) included Aravind Adiga's account of how he came to write The White Tiger. He met a driver in Delhi  who was an avid reader of a Hindi pulp-fiction magazine called Murder, which specializes in stories about drivers who murder their masters. The stories never end well, Adiga said, but are perhaps cathartic for India's legions of drivers at the beck and call of their bosses.

Also worthwhile: Travel writer Colin Thubron on his book, To a Mountain in Tibet, and William Dalrymple's lively overview of his new book, Return of the King: The Battle for Afghanistan. 

Parting thoughts for this blog entry:

1. Fresh lime soda, widely available, can be ordered "sweet," "salty," or "sweet and salty." I prefer the latter.
2. Yoga originated in India, but not high-end yoga togs. Lululemon doesn't compute here. Women tend to come to class in tunics and loose or stretchy pants. Maybe sweat pants and t-shirts. Men wear t-shirts and well-worn gym pants or shorts. In short, the studio is a no-wicking zone.
3. I spent an hour on Cotton Street Saturday, where imperfect textiles sell for cheap. Bought some pretty fabrics and took them to a tailor who will stitch up pants and blouses based on my rough sketches. Will report the results when ready!