More on the Wagah ritual

Apparently the BSF has decided it will do away with it!

"What was performed earlier was not the correct drill but a kind of drama enacted on both sides of the border," said IG, frontier, Arvind Ranjan, while justifying the toned-down drill.

He said various body movements, including vigorous shaking of head while gazing in the eyes of jawans of the opposite country were unwarranted movements which had no place in the routine drill.

Ranjan said since both countries were trying to a forge friendly relationship, they decided to do away with these 'provocative' gestures.

A video of the ritual from Michael Palin is at YouTube

Related post: The face off at Wagah

Blooming Sydney

It's late winter here, of course, and the flowers have started blooming. The most spectacular part of this in August is the variety of Magnolias that are in full bloom. Most of them are the pink ones but there are some spectacular red ones in the neighbourhood too. Most of them have gone past the stage where the whole tree is just branches and flowers with no leaves visible but there are still a few late-blooing plants that are creaking under the abundance of flowers...

The face off at Wagah

One of the first books I listened to when I first discovered Audible.com was Michael Palin's Himalaya.

Have a listen to my favourite bit- so evocative for someone from a fauji family background. Funny too!

Astad Deboo

I'd read about Astad Deboo when I was growing up as a teenager in the 80's. He was probably the only Indian doing contemporary western dance at that time, though he started out asa Kathak dancer. He has been called the father of modern Indian dance.

He came to Australia, we met by chance at a friend's house and then he came over for dinner. He is very engaging and well informed and still lives the artist's life- not knowing where his future funding is going to come from. I couldn't go for his concert but it was good to see how he is still experimenting- this time with Albert David of the famous Bangarra Dance Theatre.

He also trains a troupe of deaf actors in India; they were to perform at the opening ceremony of the Games for the Disabled being held after the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Update: 10 August 2006
I just read some material that says he performed with Pink Floyd in London. I don't have a date but would have really liked to ask him if this was before Syd Barrett left the band. With Syd's recent death, I have been reading about his strange life and would have liked to have first hand inpressions of the Madcap.

And check out the energy his dance represents in this photo below:

Dead bodies in the Yamuna and other schoolgirl impressions

I've just discovered a great source for audio programmes to listen to while I am at the gym- ABC Radio! A recent one was this quite interesting report on the problems of water in India.

I especially liked the interview with the Delhi schoolgirl about her views- must listen!

The full audio podcast I can no longer find at the ABC site, but a transcript is here.