Reflections of Passions

Mumbai CST is one of the oldest and busiest railway stations in India. Its 125 year  old history lends itself to adequate scrutiny and admiration from various angles. Hence, there is no wonder that Mumbai has largely been symbolized with the iconic structure that attracts large number of tourists, researchers, students, historians and scholars. One of the more interesting things I found in Mumbai CST was the Heritage Gallery. The Gallery has a mine of information and is a perfect way to explore the station on a humid afternoon. The walk begins with Bholu, the mascot of the Indian Railways welcoming the visitors into the gallery.  The conception along with the design began in October 2009 while the the site work began in November 2009 and was finally inaugurated for public viewing in January 2010. The gallery has been designed in a 1500 square feet centre for interpretation that would adequately compliment the world heritage site and is largely aimed at tourists who admired ...

Picture Courtesy: Saffron Tree Book: Flute In The Forest Author: Leela Gour Broome Publisher: Puffin Pages: 208 ISBN:  9788184754193 There are some books that narrate extremely simple tales in a very emotionally appealing manner and still succeed in making an impact. Author Leela Gour Broome's book "Flute in the Forest" has a very musical ring to it, which should be one of the reasons why I started reading this book sitting on one of the sofas in Crossword. "Flute In The Forest" is the story of a thirteen year old young girl Atiya Sardare, the daughter of a forest officer. She is afflicted with polio as she stays with her father in a forest area in South India which is largely inhabited by tribals.  Prior to becoming a victim to polio, the book explains that her mother Sarojini, an acclaimed dancer dreams of making her daughter a dancer when she grows up. As she is struck by the disease, she deserts her daughter and husband as she realizes the d...

Vikram Kapur The Hindu When we revisit favourite songs, books and movies we encounter our earlier selves and experiences. I was watching a video of Paul McCartney singing ‘All my Loving’ in a recent concert on Youtube on my computer. Little more than a minute into the song, the camera froze on a member of the audience. This guy, who looked to be in his fifties, was practically sobbing. Songs don’t make grown-up men cry like that, I reasoned, and examined the comments section of the page to see if I could find out why he was crying so hard. One comment informed me that he had lost his wife recently and ‘All my Loving’ brought her memory back because it was their favourite song. That episode set me thinking of the role art plays in our lives. As we age, our favourite songs, books and movies become a repository of our memories. When we revisit them, we encounter our earlier selves, the people we knew then, the experiences that shaped us... Since I have spent a good part of m...