Monday, March 15, 2010

Vinda Karandikar's passing


A sad note today in the Authoritative Annals of Nonsensifaction: Vinda Karandikar, a celebrated Marathi poet, critic, translator, and, of course, occasional nonsense writer, passed away yesterday. I met him years ago when I was doing research for The Tenth Rasa, when he was kind enough to receive me and Anushka Ravishankar to talk about his work. I recall one amusing and telling moment from our visit... After being seated in his parlor, we told him we were there to discuss the nonsense verse he had written. He immediately made a face and told us, to our surprise, that he didn't write any. When he left the room briefly his wife leaned in, conspiratorily, and told us that of course he wrote nonsense verse. That day, we learned a thing or two not just about him, but about how nonsense literature is perceived, even by practitioners of it. When he returned he became much more cheerful, and he even waved to us from the balcony as we walked away from his building--something I learned later was not a common occurrence. He was happy to have several of his pieces translated (masterfully, by Anita Vaccharajani) and included in our anthology.

Tonight, the Nuppiter Pifkins will murble in mouring...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Storytelling Night in New Delhi

Hello all in Nonsensabad! I write to you from the bosom of Gurgaon, where I have been ensconced for nigh two plus weeks. I've been checking the nonsense gauges and baubles here, twiddling and tweaking the twoddlemeters...strictly procedural, you understand. I can safely report that the underground reserves of nonsense are still burbling blatantly, and that there will indeed be a gusher coming soon to a well near you. As long as you live near New Delhi. That is to say, I will be participating in the Scholastic India Storytelling Night this coming Friday, to read from "The Moustache Maharishi" and other nonsensical nodes. If anyone is around, please do stop by! Info below!


Scholastic India is happy to announce that Storytelling night will now be held in ten cities every quarter!

The ten cities where these fantastic sessions will be organised are New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad, Pune, Jaipur and Chandigarh.

Schedule for the first storytelling night in your city!

New Delhi - Friday, February 19, 2010
Storytellers: Samina Mishra, Anita Roy, Bubbles Sabharwal, Michael Heyman & Devika Rangachari
Venue: The HUB, DLF Promenade, 3 Vasant Kunj Malls, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi - 70