Birthday At Marve

Surprise! It was during our short retreat at Marve that Chandran like a magician, produced a birthday cake for us (we were already dying for something sweet and regretting not having remembered to buy anything on the way). Turned out that 8th May was his birthday so after dinner, Sharat took several shots of Chandran trying to cut the cake, which he had managed to buy in Marve itself. The shot is somewhat hazy but I guess we're recognisable.

Other than that it was mostly a peaceful two days. One of the themes which we looked at was freedom and responsibility and how the two are related. Bernd was there too - his second last day before returning to Germany.

The best thing was that it took us under an hour to get to the beach house from Bombay and although our return journey was an hour and a half that didn't seem too bad either. This means we can definitely plan more of such short trips. Though only a day and a half, you do come back refreshed to the city.

What Constitutes A Patriot

Here's a new take on violence. When Anjali Waghmare the lawyer who agreed to take up the case of Kasab (the terrorist involved in the 26/11 attack in Bombay) she was immediately threatened by a gang of Shiv Sena goons. In spite of the jolt which undid Ms. Waghmare's initial confidence, she finally agreed to take up the case. Meanwhile the lawyers of the men who indulged in violence have attempted to excuse their behaviour by explaining that they did what they did out of "love for their country". Question: is patriotism about love or underneath everything, is it really about violence?