Another World AIDS day has come and gone and the epidemic shows no sign of abating. On the contrary more and more people are turning out to be HIV positive. In Africa, the problem is almost getting out of hand. While in India, inspite of having the second largest number of HIV infected cases in the world the government is not pursuing an aggressive enough strategy to spread more awareness about the disease. The government claims that the infection rates have fallen sharply this year compared to last year but many counter this claim saying that the government is relying on faulty numbers. Whatever the actual numbers maybe the truth is that AIDS is spreading throughout India. What is more worrying is that HIV infections are going up in the rural areas, regions where the rates of infection are lower compared to the urban areas.

The main problem in India is the lack of awareness about the disease and the resultant stigma society has attached to it. AIDS patients are literally ostracized by the community and even their family members. Since sex is not talked about openly and attempts to do so are frowned upon taking the message to the masses has had limited success. What we need is a more proactive approach from the government, a firm commitment both in terms of money and resources to educate the general public about use of condoms, high risk behavior and the need for precautions.

Time is fast running out. The number of AIDS patients is set to double by the end of this decade if the present infection rates continue. With more than half of India’s population set to be below thirty years of age in the next decade it is imperative that the government, NGOs and people come together to fight this debilitating menace.

(Go here for a more detailed article on the history, current situation and possible outcomes of the AIDS problem in India).

From Wikipedia, ‘the Gordian Knot is a metaphor for an intractable problem, solved by a bold stroke (“cutting the Gordian knot”). The myth it refers to is associated in legend with Alexander the Great.’

I really like this inspite of the blurred stem in the foregound spoiling things a bit. The thorns against the defocussed background are what makes this shot I feel.

There comes a time in every writer’s career when they are plagued by the question, “what do I write about now?” Such was the dilemma Vikram Seth found himself in after the publication of his novel The Suitable Boy, the longest single volume novel ever published. The fear of never being able to write again haunted Vikram. His mother, Leila Seth, asked him to interview his great-uncle Shanti Seth, which he did. Those comprehensive interviews have resulted in Vikram Seth’s latest novel, ‘Two Lives.’

The two lives in question are Uncle Shanti and his German-Jewish wife Henny. This incident was narrated by the author himself at the Penguin India book launch of ‘Two Lives’ in Chennai on October 13. The event, the first of a five-city promotional tour, was held at the Taj Coromandel and was well attended by the usual mix of dancers, socialites and other assorted culture vultures.

The author read extracts from his book for an hour. The book covers a period of time from the 1930s to the 1970s. Shanti Uncle migrated to Germany in the 1930s and lived with Henny’s family till he was forced to relocate to England due to World War 2. Henny joined Shanti in England after she fled Germany in 1939. Their friendship blossomed into love and they got married.

Vikram Seth went to live with his uncle and aunt when he attended boarding school at Tonbridge. He could thus observe them up close and the result is an extraordinary story about two ordinary people. The book covers a wide sweep from Nazi Germany, Britain, Auschwitz and the holocaust, Israel, post-war Germany and 1970s Britain.

The author talked about how he found aunt Henny’s letters in which she had poured out her grief over the loss of her mother and sister who perished in the gas chambers. When questioned about whether ‘Two Lives’ was his most personal work he replied that although all his books had some element of the personal, reading through aunt Henny’s letters was an emotionally draining experience. According to Seth the best stories are the ones that happen around us, just waiting to be told. And because the two people he wrote about were not famous he was not constrained by the regular rules that apply to memoirs and biographical accounts. Maybe that’s what makes ‘Two Lives’ so special.

The weather finally cleared here today. So went for a walk in a nearby park, with my trusted camera of course! Managed to get some decent shots. But before posting them here is a shot from a couple of days back when all of a sudden we had a glorious evening. The sky was dripping molten gold.

This is from last week and it was a late evening shot so it came out nicely blue. But I was curious to see how it would look in black and white so I played a little with the channel mixer in PS and I kinda liked the result. So here it is. All I did was increase the red and green and keep the blue low so the sky in the backgrnd is blown and the branches stand out starkly against the white backgrnd. Let me know what you think of the result.

After a gap of two days here I’m again! Since the weather here continues to be downright shitty I tried a few macro studies the other day. Here is one I liked.

Another photo where I tried the lens baby effect PS action. I thought that, in the original image, the background was distracting and there was an irritating light source (which you can still see) right next to the leaf. With the background rendered out of focus the reason for taking this shot becomes clearer in my opinion. (A portion of the image on the left and on the bottom has been cropped out to remove some distracting elements.)

There is a lot that is wrong with this photo, starting with the focus. But then I like the delicate flame like twirl of the defocussed leaf in the background and the two elements in the picture seemingly touching at one point. Also, this is proof that Minolta’s body integral anti-shake works. There is no way I could have got this passably decent photo, shot in low light at 1/8 shutter speed, hand-held with a 100mm macro lens, if not for the anti-shake!

Something from the archives. This is a part of a calendar which hangs in the corridor of my lab. A photo in a photo of sorts. I like the effect of the solitary fly and the shapes of the cheese pieces.