after a long time a truly delightful movie. went off last night to see ahista ahista. a new film with young new actors and was most excited seeing it. an interesting story, delhi looking delightful in bits and a possibility of the story actually happening in real life. now thats a fairly new one for some of the recent films that have been dotting the landscape. a love story with a twist!!! guess i am a sucker for romance....

was travelling in new zealand in may this year and had come across this mural on the walls in wellington - the suffragists in that city and as usual there was a move to obliterate that! isn't it strange that we are increasingly moving towards forgetting one's history almost as though none of that matters any more and the battle has been won. sad. what do people who come after us look at.

i often think this of delhi. a city which is beautiful, lots of gorgeous monuments dating a couple of centuries ago, green spaces and a fair amount of heritage that one can access. at least that is what i have seen around when i was growing up. now i see more and more hideous buildings - doric columns seem to be an in thing with the builders of today. buildings cheek by jowl with no space for intrigue or gossip- everything is visible upfront. what are we leaving behind: hordes of telephone and cable wires that will string the streets together; builder apartments that will sport grecian, indian and punjabi architecture;DDA flats that will have been reduced to rubble and acres and acres of gardens that used to exist. dire prediction, but thats the way i feel.

and in auckland and wellington, everything was pristine and green and beautiful and there was the occasional struggle of trying to get murals off so that something else could come up. but this is alos the place where private ownership of beaches is frowned upon and public space is revered and battles are fought to keep it alive...