Comes from my friend and a wonderful caricaturist, Vikram Nandwani. I absolutely loved this one!

By the way Vikram is holding an exhibition of his caricature series on India titled Verry India at Malaka Spice, Pune, till 31st January 2010. Those of you in and around Pune, do check out the exhibition.

If you remember, I had written about K M Sudheesh in my old blog, back in June 2008. Sudheesh was a young Malayali poet whose works have been published by Kerala Sahithya Academy. He has been fighting with cancer and was a very good fighter at that. Many readers of this blog and Mutiny blog helped me collect some funds for his surgery back then, which was then transferred to his bank account. I remember talking to him on the phone and I felt the purity and innocence in that young man’s voice. He was so full of life and was excited to see that people around the world whom he did not even know were helping towards his cause. He enthusiastically asked about blogging etc and I felt like talking to a brother.

That blessed boy has passed away yesterday evening. I would like to take a moment to thank all those who contributed for his cause and may his soul rest in peace…

[From YouTube] Campaign “Let’s Do It!” – a grassroot initiative to clean up the country from illegal waste in just one day. There was over 10 000 tons of illegal waste lying around all over Estonia and it was an outrageous plan — to clean it all up on one day! More than 600 volunteers were working to make it all happen with only 3 full-time employees. On May 3, 2008 with help of 50 000 volunteers more than 10 000 tons of garbage gathered and Estonia was cleaned up from illegal waste.

Saw this through a forwarded email. So moving and inspiring video.

Thank you Savita Bhabhi for adding nearly 1000 hits to my blog almost everyday since my first post about you. Google put my link in the third place for the keyword “Savita Bhahi” which has now been pushed to the 8th place in the first page.

And to all those poor souls who came here by searching for Savita Bhabhi in Google, I know you must have cursed me a hundred times for not posting a single nude pic of the Bhabhi. Sorry to have wasted your time, but hey! Now I am the one who is spoofing the way that Indian men treating our women! Phew!

“What is that?” is a Greek short film directed by Constantin Pilavios made in 2007 and it tells the story of relationships. The movie is short, simple yet so touching. Check it out.

(Thanks to Sandeep Raja for the link)

BarCamp Kerala is an ad-hoc gathering rooted in the desire to share and learn in an open & friendly environment. It is an intense yet cool, event with discussions, demos, and strong interactions. The 5th edition of BarCamp Kerala (BCK5), is scheduled to be on May 3rd, 2009, Sunday at TechnoPark, Thiruvananthapuram. Visit their website to register.

I have written about ViBGYOR Film Festival in this blog before. ViBGYOR International Film Festival in Thrissur, Kerala, India and its associated activities have, in the last 3 years, become a significant alternative space for issue based non-feature films and a meeting place for filmmakers, social movements, activists and the student community. It is today among the biggest documentary film festivals in the country.

As they are now in the preparations for the 4th Edition of ViBGYOR Festival, scheduled from February4-8th in Thrissur, they are approaching us with this Appeal hoping that we would extend support, no matter small or big, short term or long term.

APPEAL:

As with any people led initiative, ViBGYOR film festival has been facing severe financial crisis. In spite of support from local groups, activists and partner organizations, the local organizers of the festival have incurred a cumulative loss of approximately rupees Seven lakhs over the past 3 years. One of the reasons is that the festival does not accept any corporate funding and has received little support from Government departments and public trusts. Major expenses incurred have been for travel, hire of equipment, halls, publications and accommodation and food for filmmakers and activists who attend the annual event.

We appeal to our friends and well-wishers (Organizations/Institutions as well) to join the ViBGYOR Film Fraternity and thus support this alternative film festival, so that we can address the current financial crisis and also plan for the future. There are several ways to become part of the ViBGYOR Film Fraternity:

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