Life

the write stuff this month is for arundhati roy and her algebra of infinite justice. in her new book which is a compilation of essays, she challenges the instinct for vengeance. the book collects all the political writing done by roy over the years. in these essays, which have been extensively revised and updated for publication, she writes with passion and clarity about the great issues of the 21st century: nuclear war; environmental degradation; the folly of big dams; the dangers of unbridled globalisation; and why terror cannot eliminate terrorism.in the essay, 'the ladies have feelings...' she speaks of the writer's role in society. penguin is making sure the launch is a big affair even as the goddess of small things prefers otherwise. sound of music it will be quite a cultural coup for mumbaikars. to mark the silver jubilee of the pt c r vyas-founded gunidas sangeet sammelan; the top names of hindustani classical music are gathering forces at mumbai's shanmukhananda hall between december 14 and 17. the performers include pt ravi shankar assisted by his daughter anoushka, pt shiv kumar sharma assisted by his son rahul, pt bhimsen joshi, pt c r vyas, pt jasraj, kishori amonkar accompanied by pt hariprasad chaurasia, ustad zakir hussain, satish vyas and others. royal treat in today's world of american cultural imperialism and satellite television, bhutan continues to zealously guard its isolation and control the airwaves. a rare glimpse of the mountain kingdom's rich tradition will be on display at the indian museum in kolkata from december 1-28. the exhibition entitled 'the living religious and cultural traditions of bhutan' is being jointly organised by indian authorities and the royal bhutanese embassy. the royal academy of performing arts, bhutan, will also present shows at the museum. grass-root level this december sees a lot of gunter grass in mumbai, thanks to the max mueller bhavan. there will be original etchings by grass which he did in connection with his novel the flounder, published in 1977. there will be a compelling documentation consisting of posters with texts, elucidating the life and works of the nobel laureate. photographs from the family album and magazine covers will also be on display. then there will be a talk on grass and the time he spent in india by martin kampchen. he will also introduce his latest novel, my broken love, gunter grass in india and bangladesh. southern sonata a festival called 'writer's block' is going to be held between december 8-15 in bangalore. jacaranda press, in association with alliance and rupa and co, is organising the event which will be a celebration of south indian writing. the festival will cover four aspects of writing: fiction, non-fiction, translation and poetry. it will also link the visual and performing arts with writing. there will be sessions where the writer will take different forms — as musician, in films and theatre, in dance and more. writers — and these would include famous playwrights like mahesh dattani, and authors like shashi deshpande and anita nair. everyone's invited to attend and listen to these south indian writers as they meet under one umbrella and share their work with an audience. there will also be sessions on plot creating, non-fiction and fiction writing, translation and more. the festival will be held at the alliance francaise.