THIS ABOVE ALL
To India, with love from Italy
Khushwant Singh

Khushwant Singh

THE Surajkund Crafts Mela is now 26 years old, and is firmly established as an important event in the annual calendar of the capital. It draws large crowds of visitors, Indian and foreign, who marvel at the ingenuity of humble, semi-literate craftsmen producing new artefacts out of bamboo and other kinds of a wood. Connoisseurs have detected a distinct Italian nuance in the items on display. Much of the credit for this goes to a beautiful young lady, Seerat Narindra. 

She is as familiar with rural India as she is with urban Italy. She specialises in designing costumes, interiors, fashion and graphic designs. All this she acquired studying in leading Italian academies — Accademia Arti Applicate for Interior Designs, Graphics, Advertising and Photography and the Accademia Delle Belli Arti Di Brera for Fine Arts. She was honoured with the prestigious Premio Milano, Premio Degas and best student awards in Italy, followed by the Adharshila, Bharat Nirman and C. L. Nepali Awards in India. Her expertise has been availed of by various governmental and private enterprises, including offices of airlines like Virgin Atlanic, Air Lanka and Malaysian Airlines. ‘Khas Baghs’ in Apna Utsav owes much to her creative ingenuity. Perhaps, her most outstanding work was rehabilitating Lambadi tribal women affected by the Latur earthquake. She trained these uprooted women to make garments and furniture. These items were on display at Colours of Hope exhibition. She has also designed the Italian Embassy’s Culture Centre in New Delhi. Her latest work is designing Ambience of Surajkund Crafts Mela and costumes for the ballet Kadambari by Shovana Narayan. She has much to crow about.

Knotty at eighty
Homage to age 

Seerat Narindra specialises in designing costumes, interiors, fashion and graphic designs.

If it can’t be better, it can be verse!

At fifteen there’re always time, many things to do, it’s all so easy. 

At eighty, there’s more to do, time’s not ‘nough, you’re always busy!

At eighty, it’s not the time to wake at three But that’s when you're called to dot your I, join the Q and Pee!
At night you dined, food took so long, yet you ate. 

In the morn it may exit, but it is on time? At southgate!

Your toes once easily used to find your slippers. 

Your feet, you suddenly find are just flippers!

You once brushed your teeth, shaved and bath’d at leisure. 

Now the morning goes, you haven’t start'd and gone’s the pleasure!

Ham ‘n’ eggs, toast ‘n’ steaming tea for breakfast was a must. 

Now you wonder, you haven’t yet ‘gone’ so should you? 

But just? A look at your wrist, time’s flown it’s already one. 

God! Day’s half gone, and look at that, yet nothing’s done!

You sit at the table wondering and weary, 

You wake to find you’ve slept, you’re hungry, your eyes bleary!

You look at the wall, and at the clock, 

God! It’s five. The TV’s blank, Oh damn! You’ve missed cricket live!

Then, once again it’s eight, you’ve slept but have you eaten?

Now you remember ah! Thank the Lord, night cap was not forgotten.

So to bed, you ask who’ll make it, my back’s broken. 

You dream of youth, the things done, promises made. the words spoken!

When you were young, it’s old you so wanted to be. 

Now that you’re there, you think yes, old, but man, not eighty! 

(Courtesy: Stanley Joseph Nazareth, Nagpur)

Missionary cure

For the treatment of spondolytis, my first port of call is the short-wave diathermy cabin. Unable to understand in which position to lie down, I hesitantly enquired from the physiotherapist if she meant missionary position. Being a good sport, she blushed, blinked and smiled, and I willingly obliged by taking the requisite position. Not finding permanent relief, I am now sporting a cervical collar. At the construction site, my co-workers stare at my dog collar, as if I am a prize-winning champion poodle (or great dane) of the kennel club. The dog collar having become an integral appendage of my body, I find solace in the words of Thomas Hardy: “Love me and love my dog (read collar).” 

Finally, a vote of thanks for Masters and Johnson for describing a position of pleasure, which can also be used as a position of pain reliever.

(Contributed by Col Trilok Mehrotra, Noida)