hopscotch

I have been reading a lot of so-called light stuff lately. But, light doesn't mean 'fluff' or 'dumb.' Far from it. I haven't read lots of chick-lit, so I don't know if Anuja Chauhan's writing qualifies under that segment. What I can tell you is that she is brilliant at what she writes. One of the reviewers had called her writing style 'Bharat meets India', and it's very apt description. Only she could coin witticisms like 'Bhainscafe.' I guess 'Bhainscafe' doesn't sound terribly bright when singled out; put it in a perspective of the book (Battle for Bittora) and you are bound to break into laughter. I read her last book, (Those Pricey Thakur Girls) first and her debut book, (The Zoya Factor) last. They aren't sequels so I didn't miss out on family history or some such trivialities. She is one Indian author who has got the small town part, damn right. So, terms like 'Bhainscafe' and 'yeh to bada toin

Disclaimer: I don't cover the civic beat and I have not visited many corporation schools, so this is not an expert commentary on how these schools are run. I only have something good to say of the students and teachers of K C Thackeray Vidya Niketan. --- I happened to visit the school last year in December when there was a literary event in the city. The writers were visiting the school as part of an outreach programme. The first thing that one of the author (she isn't from India) said to me was that the school had a 'first-class' computer lab. That's encouraging. What impressed me was the cleanliness standard of the school - extremely high. A very good sign considering that the school is not located in the poshest of locality. Even the dog, (a stray)adopted by the students/school, was clean. Yes, the dog acutally attended the story-telling session along with the students. He lay quietly in one corner - not a whimper or a bark from him. When the story failed to in