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TBI Travel: Aurangabad – The Silent Historian

The second post in our Travel Series is about Aurangabad, a city that seamlessly blends the ancient with the modern, and gives the appearance of standing still in time. There is a lot more to this place than the renowned Ajantha and Ellora Caves, as a reluctant Nabila Tazyeen discovers much to her surprise, and [...]

April 9, 2012 / 1 Comment / Read More

UnWrapIndia: Gifts from the Real India

January 16, 2012 2 Comments

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Channapatna, a small city located 60 km south-west of Bangalore on the Bangalore-Mysore state highway. For someone coming from Delhi, this place “gombegala ooru” meaning toy town was a whole new experience. In Delhi, there is not much for children to do except a few [...]

LiveJam: Calling the youth to Live out Loud

January 3, 2012 No Comment

Rock music and drugs go a long way; in the 1960s when psychedelic music became popular, some musicians encouraged and intended listeners of psychedelic music to be under the influence of LSD or other hallucinogenic drugs as enhancements to the listening experience. More recently, in a 2004 interview, Paul McCartney said that the Beatles songs [...]

Mario Miranda: A Tribute

December 13, 2011 2 Comments

2011 has been a heavy-hearted year for the left-brained. From Jehangir Sabavala, MF Husain, Jagjit Singh and then Dev Anand, India has lost stalwart after stalwart to the heavens. Mario Miranda joined this list of losses very recently. For most of us, these are celebrity names. But for some, these were a lot more than [...]

Book Review: The Mansion/Mayyadas ki Marhi by Bhisham Sahni

November 22, 2011 No Comment

Bhisham Sahni’s The Mansion or Mayyadas ki Marhi traces the history of a town in Punjab which sees the change in fortunes and lives of the people as the old Khalsa Raj is defeated and the British rule is established. Spanning over a period of almost three hundred years is the Mansion that has stood [...]

Sweeper-Actor Kailash Stages A Sanitation Success Story

October 31, 2011 1 Comment

Kailash Basfore, 35, is a sweeper by profession. However, he is also an actor. He is part of the Harijan Para Slum Folk Theatre Group that periodically performs plays on the benefits of sanitation in the 52 slums dotting Kalyani, a township located 65 kilometres north of Kolkata in West Bengal. Motivating Kailash and others [...]

Book Review: Tales from the Wild by Dr. Raza H. Tehsin and Arefa Tehsin

October 18, 2011 No Comment

Tales from the Wild is a children’s book full of fascinating animal adventures, written by award-winning Naturalist and Wildlife expert Dr. Raza H. Tehsin along with his daughter Arefa Tehsin. The short stories are reminiscent of the Panchatantra genre with a similar allure to young ones and the useful addition of factual information and snippets [...]

Mysore Ganjifa: Reviving a Forgotten Art Form

October 12, 2011 No Comment

In search of Ganjifa and the Artist “Ganjifa” is the name given to an ancient Indian card game. Historically this game is believed to have been brought to India and popularised during the Moghul period. Quite aptly the name Ganjifa comes from the Persian word “Ganjifeh” which means playing cards. The speciality of these cards [...]

Hill Women Learn To Earn The Eco-Friendly Way

October 10, 2011 2 Comments

Puja Devi, 30, watches with satisfaction as her young son gulps down his glass of milk and then reaches for his satchel, ready to go to school. For some months now, the happy mother has been able to provide milk for her son every day, a far cry from earlier times when there was hardly [...]

Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya: A School for Music and More

September 26, 2011 No Comment

The Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya (KSV), located in Kalkeri, Dharwad district, Karnataka, provides a musical and academic education to one hundred and sixty children. In addition, food, accommodation, health care and clothing are also provided, and everything is free. There are no fees at all. KSV believes that it is the fundamental right of all children [...]