Rang Rasiya by Ketan Mehta.

Watched the movie "Rang Rasiya" depicted on the famouse painter "Raja Ravi Varma" from Travancore. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian Art. Once
Ravi Varma saw the beautiful lady Sugandha Bai in a temple worshipping hindu Goddess felt inspired by her beauty. Varma often painted charecters from Indian mythology, literature and religious texts - shakkuntala, urvashi, draupadi, Maneka among others. Varma saw in Sugandha the face and soul of a goddess . For him she is passionate, possessive and hungry for love.

A masterpiece by any reckoning, "Rang Rasiya" has a dazzling display of colour, desire, erotica, drama and emotions. Among the many ideas that emerge from Ketan Mehta's exploration of religion, art, sex and the male ego is the one suggesting that Dada Saheb Phalke's dream of making a film was funded by "Raja Ravi Varma". Thanks to Varma for the birth of Indian Cinema and thanks to Ketan Mehta who lives to tell the tale. If you love art and cinema, and cinema as art, then don't miss this one.

I Knew Sunanda. But I Can't Say If She Killed Herself by SUHEL SETH.

(Suhel Seth is Managing Partner of Counselage: India's only strategic brand advisory.)
With due apologies to Shakespeare, there is obviously something rotten in the state of India. 

We have invented the art of public trials with allegations which are hurtful and insensitive and made a mockery out of every institution that is supposed to be righteous and moral.

When Sunanda Tharoor was declared dead on the night of January 17, 2014, even she wouldn't have imagined how her death would spark indignation and rage, conjecture and mystique, but rarely empathy and grief. The fact that the investigations into her death were more of a public spectacle rather than getting down to the truth is what saddens me. 

Let me make full disclosure: Sunanda was a very dear friend of mine and I knew her long before either she met Shashi Tharoor or before I knew Shashi. I became a friend of Shashi's because I knew Sunanda. Did I know Sunanda so well that I could jump to conclusions about her vivacity or her joi-de-vivre? I guess not. And no one does. I am amazed at the utterances of her so-called 'friends' who are near certain that she could have never taken her own life. I, for one, will not jump to such conclusions. 

All three possibilities are up in the air. She could have knowingly taken her own life; she could have accidentally overdosed on whatever she is supposed to have been taking; or someone could have killed her. 

The fact that on the afternoon of January 6, 2015, almost a year after Sunanda's passing on, the Delhi Police Commissioner, a fine cop at that, says in a press statement that hers was an unnatural death should suffice. The Commissioner went on to add that samples would be sent abroad perhaps for better results and I guess neutrality is something we should consider responsibly. But then what erupted on social media and then in the evening on national television is distressing. Many on both platforms were vultures and nothing less. People forgot that in the wake of her death she left behind a crestfallen husband, an orphaned son and a family immersed in grief. 

But then do we care about all of this? We don't. Because we have become a nation that lives in the moment. We live to make other people fall. The alacrity with which Shashi Tharoor was condemned was initially amusing but later very anguishing; add to that the grand-standing by the two national political parties  and this whole trial-by-media comes across as sordid and pernicious.

We cannot hope to be a civilized society if such is the brand of our behaviour. We cannot hope for the rule of law to prevail if television anchors become cops and judge every evening. We cannot hope for fairness in justice if investigations take so long that they lose both steam and credibility and this is what happened with Sunanda's death.

It is not my place to conjecture how she died. That is for the police and the courts to rule. But it is my place to sound an alarm at our societal norms. We did that more recently in the Aarushi Talwar murder case and we are doing it now. We are slowly morphing into a country that operates on intolerance coupled with unbridled rage, both of which have no grounds to exist in a society that wants to progress on the back of dignity and equality. Something will give way.

In many ways, just as when she lived, in her death, Sunanda Tharoor is teaching us one vital lesson. Being human is far more important than being judgmental. And I wish for her sake and for the sake of this fine country, we learn the lesson and learn it well.

Sometimes the dead teach us how to live. And I hope we learn this lesson with equanimity and humility.

The Naked Ape by DESMOND MORRIS.

Naked Ape was published in 1967. The book has shocked many people. It became a controversy. Every word desmond wrote became the subject of heated debate. In some parts Naked Ape book was banned, confiscated & burned by the church.

Desmond Morris reminds us that man is relative to apes. He highlights some surprising facts
that are raising quite a few eyebrows in the scientific and non-scientific world.

• Homo sapiens not only has the biggest brain of all primates but also the largest penis, and is "the sexiest primate alive"
• our fleshy ear-lobes, unique to humans, are erogenous zones (any area of the body especially sensitive to sexual stimulation) that have been known to provoke orgasm in both males and females,
• the more rounded shape of human breasts means they are primarily a sexual signalling device rather than simply a milk machine

He sheds new light on our own behaviour and society, describing our ways of " feeding, sleeping, fighting, mating and rearing young".

Morris explains each male, as the head of a family, became involved in defending his own individual home base inside the general colony base. So for us there are three forms of aggression, instead of the usual one or two says morris in his book in the chapter of "Fighting" ' page 101'. 

How does the aggression work? What are the patterns of behaviour  involved? How do we intimidate one another? We must look again at the other animals. When a mammal becomes aggressively aroused a number of basic physiological changes occur within its body. The whole machine has to gear itself up for action, by means of the autonomic nervous system. This system consists of two opposing and counter-balancing sub-systems - the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The former is the one that is concerned with preparing the body for violent activity. The latter has the task of preserving and restoring bodily reserves. The former says, ' You are stripped for action, get moving'; 'Take it easy, relax and conserve your strength.' Under normal circumstances the body listens to both these voices and maintains a happy balance between them, but when strong aggression is aroused it listens only to the sympathetic system. When this is activated, adrenalin pours into the blood and the whole circulatory system is profoundly affected. The heart beats faster and blood is transferred from the skin and viscera to the muscles and brain. There is an increase in the blood pressure. The rate of production of red blood corpuscles is rapidly stepped up. There is a reduction of time taken for blood to coagulate. In addition there is a cessation in the processes of digesting and storing food. Salivation is restrained. Movements of the stomach, the secretion of gastric juices, and the peristaltic movements of the intestines are all inhibited. Also, the rectum and bladder do not empty as esily as under normal conditons. Stored carbohydrate is rushed out of the liver and floods the blood with sugar. There is a massive increase in respiratory activity. Breathing becomes quicker and deeper. The temperature regulating mechanisms are activated. The hair stands on end and there is profuse sweating. All these changes assist in preparing the animal for battle.