Arundhaati Roy interview

"I didn't want to be like some factory producing novels, and I don't want to live my life as a project – in some ways I want to do as little as possible. I didn't mean to write my other books [her essay anthologies] either. There's so much noise in the world, so why add to it? In my case, I only write when I can't not."

Political witch-hunt

These days, I've started reading editorials once again. And believe it or not, some pieces get to be so fine and balanced, even responsible by any standard. Seems like good old days of journalism are back. Here's an example:

With age comes maturity. India is not exactly greenhorn as far as democracy goes. Then why does the Indian State throw irrational tantrums every time someone disagrees with its policies? Take the example of doctor-activist Binayak Sen. While the State has the right to investigate the links that might exist between some of its citizens and the Maoists, the way things are moving for Dr Sen and his family looks more like a witch-hunt than any serious probe. It has almost made Dr Sen a 'trophy' accused - a lesson and a warning for many others who deviate from the 'Stateline".
-- Hindustan Times, January 28, 2011 Pic: Basudev Ghosh

Vinod Mehta writing autobiography

"I have been working sporadically on my autobiography (memoirs sounds rather pompous) which is being published by Penguin. For starters, the prospect of composing 90,000 words scared the hell out of me. Like most hacks, my limit is 800 to 900 words for a single piece. Anything longer, say 1,500 words, requires a Himalayan effort. My other fear was memory. I first became editor in 1974 and many incidents, events, quarrels, anecdotes belonging to my Debonair days were a hazy memory. I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to recollect anything at all. I do not keep a cuttings file, I don’t write a diary everyday, I am hopeless at keeping records or filing letters. For instance, I could not lay my hands on a single copy of The Independent (1989), the daily I launched for The Times of India group. Neither could I find a copy of The Indian Post (1988) which I edited for Vijaypat Singhania."

Wikipedia comes to India

I’m focused increasingly on the growth of Wikipedia in the developing world. We are experiencing a lot of growth in a lot of different places, and at the Wikimedia Foundation it is a part of our five-year strategic vision to put resources behind assisting local communities grow and flourish in languages where we are currently small. We’re opening our first office outside the U.S. this year, in India, and I’m super excited about that.

Is this genocide? Ha!

Only eight ordinary men killed in a remote place called Netai and you call it genocide!
A genocide is a far bigger deal, man.
Hitler did it ;
Bush, yes,
Stalin, oh!
And our Narendra Modi, the little master.(I salute him)

But I’ve a far greater design in mind:
A big-time genocide that would speak for itself.
That would claim thousands of fucking ordinary persons
That would give the humanity its biggest shock ever.
That would wipe out people's memory for ever

Imagine a huge pool of blood inundating the whole of Bengal
A lady swimming through it, and finally sinking down tired and limp.
I would celebrate it.

Nandigram, Netai are my small pieces
Little experiments I fiddle with.
You might see a few more
Until the real big thing happens.

A huge genocide is what this time demands.
I bet you would appreciate it, love it.

Mobile phone novels

"Mobile reading is now creating a new literature model – it should not make people feel tired to read, each episode should not surpass four lines, and each episode has to contain a funny sentence or joke to inspire the readers not to give up, not to stop reading. This means love stories, historical stories and horror stories, as well as novelty books are the main categories of mobile phone books now.
"