Genesis - soumya.org

Chai Garam Chai

If you are the old fashioned pre economic liberalization types who does not fancy slamming down fifty rupees for a tea bag and lukewarm water at the newly privatized shiny airport in Mumbai and the powdery gunk from the instant coffee machine doesn't do it for you either...a quick look around may show you these mavericks selling chai from their improvised airport trolley carts. I remained torn between admiring the desi ingenuity pitted against the multinational assault or frowning on  this 'outside the system' enterprise...until the golden taste of 'proper' readymade masala tea at 6.00 am settled the argument for me...

Culture In Shantiniketan

A four hour drive from Calcutta brought us to Shantiniketan, home to the famed Visva Bharati University established by nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore. A living breathing tribute to the legacy and spirit of Tagore and one of the best art schools in the world, the University is a disciplined maze of forested paths dotted with art and language 'bhavans' (colleges), museums, studios, handicraft cooperatives and open air classrooms. A few kilometers from the university town put us squarely in the midst of rural West Bengal...miles of rivers and verdant green fields dotted  with thatched huts and crumbling mansions where the current generations of erstwhile royal families and their tenants continue their gentlemanly 'bhadralok' ways. Spending a few days in this oasis gives one a memorable and unique taste of the slow unhurried life which unfolds at this unique intersection of art and culture...

Vantage Point

The colorful festival of Holi often serves as a surreptitious training ground for inculcating neighborhood children into the art of guerrilla warfare. Dodging exploding baloons filled with colored water, dashing through sheets of water poured from overhead balconies and duelling with furtive multicolored figures lurking in the background with powerful water cannons, the struggle to capture precious ground rages from morning to noon with no quarter given. Emerging from these skirmishes, two kids rejoice in celebration of their possession of a key vantage point...

One Lakh Only

Available for the paltry sum of one lakh for a troupe or twenty five thousand rupees for a solo...full time dancers for your family or living room. There are some things money can buy and are also priceless...

Jugaad

This pimped up cycle rickshaw ride for children (and adults) at the Surajkund Mela exemplifies the concept of Indian "Jugaad". For all the millions spent on innovation and strategy workshops, it is the everyday brilliance of "Jugaad" (the improvised, innovative quick fix) that often puts things in the right perspective...