Today is my son Sarang's Birthday! He is 11 now!!!
Happy Birthday to a Wonderful Son!

A Whole Bunch of Links

A Whole Bunch of Links about book reviews, my articles, stories, poems and more. Click away.


Review of What the Raags Told Me/Vasudev Murthy. Rupa and Co., ISBN 81-291-0317-6.
Indian Express
Tribune Chandigarh
Deccan Herald
The Hindu
Sruti Magazine

June 2005: My article in RAVE magazine

Articles in the Deccan Herald
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July 5 2005: On Cruelty - East or West
August 6 2005: On the Nagasaki Bombing
August 21 2005: On William McGonagall, the World's Worst Poet
August 25 2005: About the lawyer Jacques Verges
August 29 2005: About Violins and the Supernatural
August 30 2005: Music and Spirituality
September 13 2005: The Music of New Orleans
Nov 21 2005: A Solitary Lamp for Sardar Patel
December 19 2005: Flat Earth

Articles in Vijay Times
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Nov 19 2005 Article on Nuremberg Trials
Dec 18 2005 Poem: Give me a Bribe! Cried my MP
Dec 27 2005 Corruption, our new National Religion


Story in Veena Magazine, London Arts Review
God in a Restaurant
Poems: Far Away, The Other Me, etc.

Give me a Bribe, cried my MP

This poem appeared in the Sunday Vijay Times in Bangalore on Dec 18 2005



Give me a Bribe!

Give me a Bribe! Cried my MP
I’ll agitate, obfuscate and vitiate
I’ll shout, scream and militate
I’ll fight for the poor,
If need be, in the sewer
But give me a Bribe! Cried my MP

Give me a Bribe! Cried my MP
I need your votes
Though I prefer your notes
I’ll discuss your plight
And just won’t be quiet
But give me a bribe! Cried my MP

Give me a Bribe! Cried my MP
I have to go to court
Because of that First Information Report
It’s expensive flying first class
Though I have my Railway Pass
I’ll certainly ask your query
No need to be leery
But give me a bribe! Cried my MP

Give me a Bribe! Cried my MP
Oh can’t you see
Corrupt I have to be
I have to feather my bed
I just can’t be in the red
Oh it’s so sad!
I feel very bad!
But Give me a Bribe! Cried my MP

Give me a Bribe! Cried my MP
It was just a ‘bhool’
Do you take me for a fool?
If I must rule
I really must be cool
Be that as it may
And say what you must say
But Give me a Bribe! Cried my MP

Give me a Bribe! Cried my MP
You may think I’m a louse
And that I’ve brought disgrace to this and august House
It may be that I was caught
But frankly, so many were not
Anyway, there’s absolutely nothing you can do
Feel free to rue
But Give me a Bribe! Cried my MP

© 2005, 2006 etc V M

Smell of an Evening

Suresh Menon's collection of short stories, Smell of an Evening, a publication of Yeti Books, was released at the British Library on the 10th of December at a small but tasteful function.

Yeti Books has been doing a good job in producing very decent books - content quality as feel as production. Thachom Poyil Rajeevan is the man. A real cool guy with whom its a pleasure to have a few drinks and laughs. I think his poems are hot stuff.

Suresh is a decent guy, Foreign Editor for a Business paper in Singapore. Its good to make good friends with whom we can be natural!