It’s too bad “Midnight’s Children” was a bust at the box office. I’m thinking that Deepa Mehta was perhaps the wrong director to give us the celluloid depiction of Salman Rushdie’s terrific book, which won the Booker Prize in 1981. The protagonist and narrator of Rushdie’s story, Saleem Sinai, is born at the exact moment when India gained independence from Britain. The film, had it been … Continue reading The price of independence
Piazza San Marco. I continue in this post my journey through Italy. Too quick, too hurried, but fascinating all the same. (I dream of the day when I am not beholden to an employer any more and I can travel at will.) The train ferried me from Verona back to Venice on a warm Sunday afternoon. I was curious to see, at last, the city … Continue reading Magnificent and unexpected
If you look at the map on photographer Shahidul Alam’s Web site, Bangladesh is a sea of yellow pinpricks — each virtual thumb tack pointing to a killing by the Rapid Action Battalion, a security force formed in 2004 to fight corruption in the South Asian nation. The ruthless guardians of the nation stand accused by human rights groups of the torture and extra-judicial slayings … Continue reading Crossfire
