At The Edge

Indira Gandhi with Soniya, Maneka, Rajeev, Sanjay, Rahul and Priyanka. The famous shoot by Jitendra Arya. 1979. Came across it in December 1979 issue of Debonair. -0- Zeenat Aman and Shobha De. 1975. Came across it in docu-film 'Key-Fill-Cut' (2010) on the work of Jitendra Arya [ watch it here ]

"Of course. We in this society produced Sanjay, nurtured him, and then, when the society's tolerance limits were crossed, destroyed him. We destroyed him the way we have traditionally destroyed our enemies - by overtly giving in and doing nothing. Sanjay's rootlessness, his simple-minded solutions to the nation's problems, his ruthless interventions when these solutions were resisted, his faith in pure politics, his ideology of a hard state, all these were derived from the political culture of India's Westernized middle classes and the middle class intelligentsia. And when things went wrong they turned against Sanjay the way we always turn most bitterly against a part of ourselves which we want to disown." The Sanjay Obituary by Ashis Nandy, 1982. Nandy had an imaginary dialogue with Indira Gandhi in June 1982 issue of Debonair.  Download the complete article [here] . -0-

Chiranjeevi break dancing in Kashmir. 'Sweety' song from Pasivadi Pranam (1987). 

Came across these in Kashmiri Almanac, Vijeshwar Panchang . -0- A Plate from Mrs. S. C. Belnos's 'Sundhya' (1851). (via: columbia.edu, more , still more hand signs ) -0-

You can say lot of things about him, but only thing you could surely say about him is that he had a wicked sense of humor .  December 1971 issue of Baburao Patel's Mother India.

Compiled from a couple of selected Indian Express issues from 70s/80s. 

Came across it in April 1985 issue of The Illustrated Weekly of India.

' Hunger, Not Independence, Concerns India's Peasants ' by Padmashree  Phillips Talbot "To him in August, 1947, the important question are whether there will be enough food to last through the winter, and when cloth will be obtainable, and kerosene and tea cheaper." Youngstown Vindicator - Aug 18, 1947. A daily newspaper serving Youngstown, Ohio. Just above the article you will find the photograph of Musket, a year-old Moose who loveed to eat Marple leaves. Just below the article is the news about French declaring Pondicherry, Karikal, Chandernagor, Mahe and Yanaon 'Free Cities'. ' Killings Mar Birth of New India States ' "Membership in all international organisations like the United nations went to Hindustan by previous agreement; Pakistan will not seek membership for itself." St. Petersburg Times - Aug 15, 1947. St. Petersburg, Florida. Next to the shot news piece there is a photograph of 'Strange bedfellows', a ...

Shammi Kapoor, Saira Bano and  imagined Kashmir in 1961 film 'Junglee', a film that was supposed to be originally titled 'Mr. Hitler'. (a bit of  trivia from Shammi Kapoor Unpugged , one of the finest web original series produced in India) -0- video link Shammi, Rajshee, Faiz and Kashmir in Janawar(1965). This is the second and 'romantic' rendition of the Faiz Ahmed Faiz creation in the film. Quite typical of a Shammi Kapoor film, the first rendition occurs in a crude comic set-up. He was a rebel, but the kind of rebel that by the end of film gets reformed. -0- -0-

Spent an hour observing the aerial love games ofof Dragonflies. That's definitely something I always wanted to see. Rest of the weekend was spent doing something that I excel at, doing nothing. Someone again asked the one question that I always dread. A very basic question. I now hate my long answers, long rehearsed through practice. But this time, the question came with an added layer of frivolousness. At night, walking down the narrow lanes carved in the hills, a wayfarer, an impetuous visitor typical to the northern hill stations of India any time of the year, shot the question towards me from across the road, 'Where are you from, Baby!' How you wish your life was more like a Ritwik Ghatak film and how it keeps turning into a 'K.C. Bokadia Presents'. Pinball machine. Thanks to all the school in Mussoorie, game archades are still in business. Grip Test. I am a clerk. Shani gaya tel lenay shaniwar...

Came across it in a film magazine from 1970s. -0-