M for Mountains, Momos, Maggi and Monasteries

Azure skies and mountains bare

A land where eagles dare

Okay so I realise my posts are travelling beyond the geographical limits of the city but as much as you may love your city you've to sometimes get away. Spiti is tucked away in the Trans-Himalayan belt of Himachal Pradesh — a peculiar geo-climatic cold desert region that borders Tibet in the east and Ladakh in the north. It's a harsh landscape with a stark beauty that's indescribable. The people are warm and industrious and largely cut off from everything we know as the real world. Its trekker's paradise. But don't go there if you're not going to respect the fragility of the land and the lives that depend on it. The power grid may have largely bypassed Spiti but the vagaries of climate change haven't. Do go if you want to volunteer at the community level. Contact Ecosphere Spiti for more details.

www.spitiecosphere.com

Cupcake and the City

Okay, so summer is almost over and a bikini-ready body is less of a worry. What better reason do you need to tuck into a cupcake? Or a dozen. After sampling the fares of every cupcake store in the city and realising (sob) that there will never be another Magnolia, I have nevertheless decided to crown a winner. And the winner is... drum roll... Sweet Toot.

Their cupcakes much taste better than they look (with the others I find the opposite is true). Plus the eggless ones are just as good, if not better, than their eggy counterparts, and that's worth a pat (a-cake) on the back. Bakers Purnima and Jyoti are obliging and will try and accomodate even last minute orders.

Sweet Toot 10 Sunbeam, opposite Activity High School, Pedder Road. Call Purnima Khatau on 2352-3756 or Jyoti Sampat on 2351-0530 between 10am-6pm.
Cupcakes cost between Rupees 25-30

To It or not to It, that is the question

Mirror mirror on the wall

who's the It-iest of them all?

So is Spanish design house Loewe (pronounced by the way as Lo-ay-vay and not Lo or Loee Or Loway) 's new-ish creative director Stuart Vevers onto a good thing? The ex-Mulberry head designer, in what is apparently a reactionary departure from every label's frenzied dash to 'bag' the next 'It' bag, is on a mission to design handbags that will stand the test of time. The 'papelle', touted as the first Anti-It bag is designed like an ordinary shopping paper bag and weighs less than 2 pounds. The caveat? It costs over $1000. Wouldn't it be simpler to pull out your faded old LL Bean or something instead?

Math lover: Let me count the many ways to love thee

Does mathematics offer a metaphor for life? Watch A Disappearing Number produced by British experimental theatre company Complicite and find out for yourself.

Here's the theatre review from The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2007/sep/12/theatre2

While on the subject of Math, I've been reading The Housekeeper and the Professor by Ogawa Yoko, a charming tale of an ageing Japanese mathematician with a peculiar problem - his memory lasts for only 80 minutes. What gives him some comfort is his abiding love for numbers. Copious quantities of it. This is a sacred bond that runs far deeper than human memory, and it's a bond he extends to his loyal housekeeper. Intrigued? Read it.

Jamshed Bhabha Theatre 9,10 and 11 August 2010 8 pm