Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®

Founded in 2010, The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award bills itself as "the richest prize for a single short story in the English language." And indeed, the prize is major: the winner receives a cool £30,000 (no, I did not add extra zeroes.)

With judges yet to be finalized, the selection process will include a 20-story longlist announced in May 2020, a six-story shortlist unveiled in June 2020, and the winner revealed on July 2. The shortlisted stories will be published in an Audible audiobook, with included writers receiving "an extra £1,000 fee, on top of a prize payment of £1,000". To be eligible, writers must previously have had at least one work published in the UK or Ireland by an "established print publisher or an established printed magazine" (the Terms and Conditions include an extensive list of the kinds of publishers and magazines that don't qualify). The contest is open for entries until 6:00 pm on December 13.

You can read more about the award, including the prestigious judges who've participated and the well-known writers who've submitted stories, here.

So what's the catch? -- because you know I wouldn't be writing this post if there weren't one. Well, as so often happens, it's in the Terms and Conditions. Specifically:


To summarize this dense paragraph: simply by entering the competition, you are granting a sweeping, non-expiring license not just to Times Newspapers Limited (The Sunday Times' parent company), but also to Audible and any other licensees of TNL, to use your story or any part of it in any way they want, anywhere in the world, without payment to or permission from you.

This is far from the first time I've written about "merely by entering you grant us rights forever" clauses in the guidelines of literary contests, some of them from major publishers or companies that should know better. Sure, in this case the license is non-exclusive, so you could sell your story elsewhere--but only as a reprint, because by granting non-exclusive rights to one company, you remove your ability to grant first rights to another, at least for as long as the initial rights grant is in force.

It's not uncommon for literary contests that involve publication to bind all entrants to a uniform license or grant of rights--so that, when winners are chosen, the license is already in place. But ideally, the license should immediately expire for entries that are removed from consideration--or, if the contest sponsor wants to retain the right to consider any entered story for publication (as TNL clearly does--see Clause 4.2, below), rights should be released within a reasonable period of time after the contest finishes--say, three or six months. There's simply no good reason to make a perpetual claim on rights just in case, at some unspecified point in the future, you might just possibly want to use them.

Not to mention--why should Audible get to make this same claim?

There's a couple of other things to be aware of. Shortlisted authors enter into a 12-month exclusive contract with Audible, for which they are given a "one-off" lump-sum payment (the £1,000 noted above). But thereafter, Audible retains the right "to record, distribute and market such audio version for at least ten (10) years." Again, this right is non-exclusive--but there's no indication that Audible has to pay these authors for potentially exploiting their work for a decade. (If you don't consent to these terms, you can't be shortlisted.)


Finally, although publication is guaranteed only for the shortlist, TNL reserves the right to publish longlist and non-listed entries as well. Great! Except...there's nothing to suggest these writers would be paid either.


There's no question that this is a prestigious--and, for the winner, rich--award. But sober evaluation is definitely in order here. Enter at your own risk.

Since I started Radio Free Burrito Presents several weeks ago, lots of you have asked me if I would narrate something by HP Lovecraft. I love the Cthulhu mythos, but […]

 

The actor on Derek Jarman, his wife’s right eye and the birthday party he wasn’t invited to

Born in Yorkshire, Sands, 62, studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He had a role in Derek Jarman’s Broken English and went on to appear in The Killing Fields, A Room With A View and Arachnophobia. His latest films are Yeh Ballet, available on Netflix, and The Painted Bird, out later this year. He is married, has three children, and lives in Los Angeles.

When are you happiest?
Close to a mountain summit on a glorious cold morning.

Continue reading...

• GoFundMe page for Navajo and Hopi aid lists many Irish names
• Choctaw Nation sent donation in 1847 for potato famine victims

The list of recent donors reads like an Irish phone book. Aisling Ní Chuimín, Shane Ó Leary, Sean Gibbons, Kevin Boyle, Kevin Keane, Clare Quinn, Eamonn McDonald, on and on down a GoFundMe page that by Friday had raised $3.15m of a $5m goal.

The individual amounts are not remarkable – $10, $20, $30, some exceeding $100 – but the story behind the donations stretches back two centuries and encompasses a singular act of generosity that forged a bond between Native Americans and Ireland, a bond now renewed in the coronavirus era.

Continue reading...

Remake of Monolith Software's Wii game launches on May 29

Just the idea of finding a worm in a salad is enough to send some shivers running up the spine. Fortunately, in this case, after the worm was discovered, a surprising, but welcomed customer service story developed. Basically, Sainsbury's pulled through in the clutch to address the situation with some serious grace. 

Last week’s Dresden Drop looked to the future, revealing the long-awaited trailer for Peace Talks and the bombshell announcement that there will be TWO Dresden novels this year. This week, we’ll look to the past, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the publication of Storm Front on April 1st, 2000. Paranoid? Probably. But just because you’re [...]

via http://dvdp.tumblr.com/post/16120405386/the-milky-way-and-storms-over-africa-view-from

Stars that are similar to the sun in every way we can measure are mostly more active than the sun, which hints that the sun’s activity may ramp up someday, risking solar eruptions

Jordan Goudreau once pushed a plan to protect U.S. schools. Then he moved on to a more daring pursuit, which also didn't end well.

BBC Click's Jen Copestake looks at some of the best of the week's technology stories.

#300 — April 17, 2020 Read on the Web Database Weekly Are Object Stores Starting to Look Like Databases? — Technically, any repository of data could be considered a ‘database’ but now object stores, such as those vast repositories of data sitting behind an S3 API, are beginning to resemble more structured, traditional databases in many ways. This feels a trend and market that will continue to grow in the near future. Alex Woodie (Datanami) Event-Reduce: An Algorithm to Optimize Frequently Running Queries — In brief, the idea is that rather than having to re-run queries when data changes on a table, you can basically merge in changes to previous query results. Be sure to check the FAQs. Daniel Meyer ACID Transactions in NoSQL? RavenDB Vs MongoDB by Mor Hilai — Where did the stereotype that only relational databases can be fully ACID come from? How did two NoSQL databases, MongoDB & RavenDB, become ACID at the cluster level? RavenDB sponsor TerminusDB: A Technical History — We’ve featured it before, but TerminusDB is an open source in-memory graph database built around WOQL (the Web Object Query Language). Here’s an explanation of where it came from and why it exists. Luke Feeney Comparing Redis 6's New Multithreaded I/O to ElastiCache and KeyDB — Redis 6 is on the way with threaded I/O being one of the likely new features. KeyDB is a Redis fork whose raison d’etre has been being multithreaded so this comparison may be of interest, though do note that this comes from KeyDB itself. Ben Schermel (KeyDB) Intersecting GPS Tracks to Identify Infected Individuals — I’m not a huge fan of COVID-19 related content, but this is a pretty interesting technique with numerous use cases. Essentially it uses PostGIS to identify overlapping paths. Florian Nadler Authentication Configuration in PostgreSQL and CockroachDB — In these databases, client authentication can be controlled via a ‘HBA’ (host-based authentication) file. Raphael ‘kena’ Poss How MongoDB Enables Machine Learning — If you haven’t played with the popular document-oriented database in a while, you can do quite a few things with it nowadays, including training and using ML algorithms. Mani Yangkatisal ▶  'We Got that Database', an 'All About that Bass' Parody — This is for fun only! A group of librarians have put together a fun database flavored parody of the rather irritating Meghan Trainor hit ???? Tredyffrin Libraries on YouTube 6 SQL Tricks Every Data Scientist Should Know Yi Li Why We Index Everything — Tired of managing indexes to speed up queries? Rockset automatically indexes every field in a row-based store, column-based store, and search index. Rockset sponsor Falcon: An Open-Source, Cross Platform SQL Client — Built around Electron and React, this basic client can quickly do chart visualizations of query results and can connect to RedShift, MySQL, PostgreSQL, IBM DB2, Impala, MS SQL, Oracle, SQLite and more. Plotly GeoDB: A Persistent Geospatial Database with Geofencing and Google Maps Support — Built using Badger gRPC and the Google Maps API. Track the geolocation of objects across boundaries or in relation to other objects. Coleman Word ▶️ Get ready for your next role: Pluralsight is free for the entire month of April. Stay Home. Skill Up. #FreeApril — SPONSORED ???? Seen on Twitter.. I think most of us have had this sort of experience with a 'legacy' system before.. ????

Remembering the maverick blind campaigners who walked to London a century ago to demand equality.

Argentina and Portugal both have their sights on making their first ever FIFA Futsal World Cup final when they go head to head in Cali. FIFA.com previews the crucial Colombia 2016 semi-final.

During the 2018 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia, thousands of fans from around the world entered in the Bring Someone Special contest, where they shared what special person they would bring to the Opening Match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ and why. Winner Adityanshu has chosen his inspirational mother, Devashree, and will be sitting in the Luzhniki Stadium for the Opening Match next year. Together, they share their compelling story! For information on tickets to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ please visit http://www.FIFA.com/tickets.

It has been one incredible journey at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India. Here are some of the moments to cherish.

One Mexican and one Brazilian player share the record for most goals scored in the history of the FIFA Confederations Cup with nine - who are they?

The Festival of Champions has always been full of exciting moments and fantastic goals, as you can see from the 13 best strikes in the history of the event (1992 - 2009).

FIFA.com has begun the countdown to the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 in Russia, and from now until the start we will share an interesting fact about the tournament every day. Today we remember the first goal scored at the inaugural Confederations Cup.

Musical review of an action-packed opening day of the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017

A music review of an action packed second day of the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017

A musical review of the third day of action at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017.

We review all the action of the fourth day of the FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.

A musical review of an action-packed fifth Matchday at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017.

A music review of an action packed sixth Matchday at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017, which saw Portugal and Mexico progress to the semi-final stage and hosts Russia bow out.

A music review of an action packed seventh Matchday at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017, which saw Germany and Chile secure their places in the semi-finals.

A musical review of a dramatic Matchday 8 at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017, which saw Chile progress to the final after Claudio Bravo's penalty heroics.

A music review of Matchday 9 at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017, which saw Germany book their place in the Final against Chile after a comprehensive victory over Mexico.

A musical review of Matchday 10 at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017, which saw Germany crowned champions after a 1-0 win over Chile and Portugal beat Mexico to secure third place.

In the latest episode of ESPNcricinfo's Videocast, host Sanjay Manjarekar chats up with Michael Hussey, former international Australian Cricketer and one of the finest finishers cricket has ever produced about his career, his art of finishing, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and more.

A reliable finisher, Hussey usually came to bat at a time when his team either needed to accelerate the run rate rapidly or manage an early crisis. Talking about his mantra on how he handled such enormous pressure, Hussey says, "You can either succumb to it, lose your focus, or narrow your focus. I saw pressure as an opportunity to do something special. To take the pressure off, I would think of how it will feel to win at the end of the game, celebrate and be able to get a goodnight's sleep. And that's what got me going."

Hussey played at a time when Australia boasted of one of the most robust middle order, and he gives credit to his teammates as well, "The guy at the other end needs to help too. I was lucky to have a middle-order that helped me with the chase. I loved batting with Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke and others. They're all fantastic players in their own right and did lend a helping hand in tricky situations". "I was lucky to have a set, rigid pre-ball routine for every single delivery that I faced, which helped me switch on and off in between deliveries," Hussey adds further.

To understand Hussey's approach better, Sanjay Manjarekar uses one of Javed Miandad's theory, "If Javed needed 11 or 12 runs an over, he would try to get at least 8 runs an over because there will invariably be wide or no-balls to compensate for the remaining runs", and asks Hussey if he followed the same mantra. "I tried not to let it reach 12 or 13 runs an over. And I learnt this from MS Dhoni. He is incredible. He believes that he who panics last wins the game. So Dhoni would keep his cool, and keep it longer because the pressure is on the bowler as well. So, Javed rightly says, chances of a wide or a no-ball are higher. And if you can keep your cool longer than the opposition, you can come out on top", responds Hussey.

Hussey believes that the greatest players of the game have a few common traits like, 'They don't hang on to a defeat for too long. If they lose, they move on quickly. They don't let a loss or a win hamper their thinking. They are always consistent, and level headed whether it's MS Dhoni or Ricky Ponting".

Talking about Dhoni’s finishing ability, Sanjay recalls one of India’s game against Sri Lanka in West Indies. Dhoni was on strike, India needed 17 runs in the last two overs and Sri Lanka put their best bowler to bowl the penultimate over. “Dhoni just got 3 runs in that over leaving 14 to get from the last over which was to be bowled by a weaker bowler. That’s seemingly impossible, but then how does Dhoni manage to do this”, asks Sanjay. Hussey, who is full of praises for former Indian captain, claims, "Dhoni is the greatest finisher of all time that the cricketing world has ever produced." He adds, "Dhoni can keep his cool and make the opposition captain blink first. Dhoni also has unbelievable power. He knows that when he needs to clear the ropes he can do it. He has that kind of self-belief. Honestly, I didn't have that kind of belief in myself."

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is Sanjay's favorite IPL team, and he wants to know what makes them so consistent. Hussey lets out the secret, "Supportive owners who let the Coach Flemming and Captain Dhoni decide how to run the team, excellent chemistry between the coach and the captain, Dhoni’s leadership and lastly the foresight of the owners, Flemming and Dhoni to pick the best players, particularly the good Indian players and then stick with them for as long as possible." This has built an excellent continuity in the team. And once you have continuity, you build relationships and trust that otherwise takes time to grow."

Responding to Sanjay's question on CSK's future after Dhoni moves on, Hussey says, "That's a 60 million dollar question, and I am equally intrigued. I believe the owners would like to keep Dhoni involved in some way or the other. However, whenever the change of guard happens, CSK might want to start all over again, build a brand new team, and use their existing philosophy as they enter the next decade of IPL. It is definitely going to be more challenging in current times."

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news

Members of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) today attacked a government office in adjoining Navi Mumbai, to vent their ire over potholes dotting the 39-km stretch between Sion and Panvel. Accidents on pothole-riddled roads have claimed five lives in adjoining Thane region since last month. The victims lost balance and fell as their two-wheeler hit potholes.

The MNS workers stormed in the office of the Public Works Department (PWD) at Turbhe claiming that the Sion-Panvel road is dotted with potholes and has endangered lives of commuters. The protesters shouted slogans, smashed office equipment, threw chairs, pulled down cupboards and smashed window panes, computer terminals, CPU and printers in the office, police said.

They shouted slogans against public works minister Eknath Shinde of Shiv Sena and demanded registering of offences against those responsible for the "shoddy" condition of roads. The demanded that officials concerned be booked for murder in cases of pothole related deaths. An official of the APMC police station said offences have been registered against the protesters.

"If people are dying due to poor condition of roads, MNS will continue to undertake such actions. If the roads are not repaired, the next target will be Mantralaya, the state secretariat in south Mumbai," Navi Mumbai MNS unit chief Gajanan Kale said.

Reacting to the incident, Raj Thackeray said, "If the government can't see potholes, it will at least see this protest". Meanwhile, a video of the PWD office attack has gone viral on social media.

On Saturday, Maharashtra PWD minister Chandrakant Patil appeared to make light of deaths due to potholes, when he said,
"When you talk about a death in such an accident, you forget that five lakh other people have travelled on the same
road. You can not put the entire blame on the (condition of) roads alone."

The MNS protest came a day after Congress workers in Mumbai counted potholes in suburban Bandra as part of its "Aao Potholes Giney" (Come, let us count potholes) campaign, accusing the Shiv Sena-ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation of not being prepared for the monsoons.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

Different Bollywood celebrities are indulging in different activities at home to spend time amid the quarantine and lockdown issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Some are cleaning their homes and many are sharing their workout videos. Soha Ali Khan's daughter Inaaya Naumi Kemmu have something else in mind.

Taking to her Instagram account, actress and mother Soha shared an immensely adorable picture of Inaaya arranging book in her playroom. The toddler looked cute in her black t-shirt and pink checkered trousers. The post was captioned as, ''Booked for the week! #lockdown #stoppedcountingthedays #storytime(sic).''

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

Booked for the week! #lockdown #stoppedcountingthedays #storytime

A post shared by Soha (@sakpataudi) onApr 21, 2020 at 12:26am PDT

If you go to her Instagram account, she has been sharing pictures and videos of her family on Instagram account. She regularly updates us about her quarantine time. Recently, she shared a picture of her husband Kunal Kemmu and Inaaya. The father-daughter duo is seen peeling pees in the image! "It's just a 'matar' of time...#lockdown...#stayhome..#twopeasinapod (sic)," Soha captioned the picture.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Soha (@sakpataudi) onApr 15, 2020 at 1:46am PDT

Before this, Soha had shared an immensely adorable picture of Inaaya who could be seen sitting with her bunch of teddy bears and captioned it- House party Day 6. She also used the hashtag- Lockdown.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

House party Day 6 #lockdown

A post shared by Soha (@sakpataudi) onMar 29, 2020 at 10:42pm PDT

Catch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here. Also, download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news

Representation pic

A massive fire broke out in a three-storey building in the Kasa area here in the wee hours today, the district rural police said. One person was feared dead, but there was no official confirmation yet, they said. The police received a call around 3.30 am about the blaze in the residential-cum-commercial building, located near a temple in the Kasa area of the Dahanu taluka.

The building's ground floor and the first floor, which housed a provisions store and its godown, were completely gutted in the fire, the police said in a release issued here. However, residents of the four apartments on the building's second floor were evacuated, the police said, adding that one person was feared killed in the fire, but there was no official confirmation yet. Three fire engines were rushed to the spot. The flames were doused but the cooling work was still on, the police added.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

Mumbai city suburbs of Tilak Nagar, located in Chembur faced another fire hazard on Wednesday evening. According to reports, building no 50, which is a multi-storey establishment which is located near Saraswati school caught fire. Four fire engines and water tankers were dispatched to the spot.

More details awaited.

Citizens took to social networking site Twitter quickly to react upon the fire in Tilak Nagar. Here's what some of them had to say.

Again fire outbreak in tilaknagar Chembur building no. 50. #chemburfire @MumbaiPolice @RidlrMUM

— Avantika Shukla (@avi_1801) January 9, 2019

And today another fire broke out in Tilak Nagar. There's absolute chaos due to the parking on roads in the colony. https://t.co/A22wLP1YnN

— Neenu (@kpophustle) January 9, 2019

Unbelievable how often this is happening. Tilak Nagar needs a revisit on fire safety norms!

— Chyrag (@chiragbshah) January 9, 2019

In a similar incident, a fire had broken out at Sadhana Industrial Estate near Mahindra Tower, Worli around 4.30 pm on December 29. Eight fire engines, two fire tenders, seven jumbo tankers were rushed to the spot. The ground-plus three-storey commercial structure was completely engulfed in smoke, said a fire official. Twelve firemen were rushed to the hospital, after they complained of suffocation.

A month ago, a deadly blaze at ESIC Kamgar Hospital at Marol in suburban Andheri had claimed six lives and left more than 30 injured. The building had neither a fire NOC nor occupation certificate. Ten fire tenders and 15 ambulances were rushed to the spot. The fire brigade officials said 147 people were rescued from the hospital, which includes patients as well as staff members.

Also Read: Tilak Nagar fire: Residents to take on MHADA, BMC

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid- day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

Facebook has rolled out new updates in its Stories feature that are available for the users in India first and will reach the global users later.

One such update is "Voice Posts" that will let users share their thoughts via audio to their friends and families.

"Voice posts lets you share in the moment without having to share a photo or video. This could also help people who can't necessarily write in the language they want to share in," Connor Hayes, Director of Product Management, Facebook Stories, wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.

People will now be able to save the photos and videos they capture through the Facebook camera, where only they can see them when they log into their Facebook account.

"This allows people to save the photos and videos they capture without taking up space on their phone," the post read.

It can also be used to save photos you might want to share later, so you don't have to edit or post them while you're out with your friends and instead enjoy the moment and share them later.

"In the coming weeks we're rolling out an archive for people to save the stories most important to them. After a photo disappears from your story, you can find it in your story archive - a place only you can see. You can always choose to not save them," said the post.

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

Vishnudas Bhave. Pic/Premji Sosa

The next time you book your tickets for a play, think of this name: Vishnudas Bhave. An important figure in the history of Indian theatre, Bhave is best known for his pioneering work in the mid-1800s. Born in Sangli, Bhave arrived in Mumbai in 1852, only to change the face of not just Marathi theatre, but the whole infrastructure surrounding the industry. "He didn't invent theatre, but he certainly innovated it," says historian and researcher Murali Ranganathan.

Bhave will form the core of a talk on the modernisation of theatre in Mumbai that Ranganathan will deliver this Friday as part of arts and science conversation platform, Mumbai Local's first curated session by playwright Ramu Ramanathan. For over a decade, Ranganathan has been extensively researching the history and development of the entertainment industry in Mumbai, and this session is a leaf borrowed from the pages of his larger project. He says, "Bhave looked at the theatre infrastructure available in then-Bombay. He decided that, instead of staging plays in the backyards of the rich or through building temporary sheds, where people could just walk in, he could change the non-ticketed scene to actually charging for plays at Grant Road Theatre."

Interiors of Grant Road theatre. Pic/Drama Queens Representation purposes

The Bhave-fication of theatre in Mumbai also meant that people wanted value for money. Before Bhave's arrival, says Ranganathan, instead of tickets, an aarti plate was passed around at the end of a show, on which people would place a patron sum voluntarily. "Buying a ticket meant that audiences expected more from plays. Hence from semi-religious plots, the plays shifted to pure entertainment," he explains. A byproduct of this entertainment factor was the introduction of the genre of farce, in which the foibles of the rich and contemporary issues were critiqued through the veil of humour. Bhave and his company staged farces on widow remarriage, children's education, English missionaries, and, oddly, a cautionary tale to raise awareness on a series of murders of children that happened for robbing them of jewellery.

Stating that he is interested in "excavating" libraries with an archaeologist's enthusiasm, Ranganthan's research draws extensively from news archives. The reason is that Bhave's methods paved the path for previews, reviews, and ads, many of which are to be found in these archives. "Mumbai's theatre scene in the 20th century has been well-researched, but the times before that still need more work," says Ranganathan. He adds that his talk will also cover other theatre groups that followed Bhave's suit, a maverick balloonist who drives mass entertainment, and how practices like yoga caught the modern imagination. It all sounds intriguing, and best heard from Ranganathan himself.

Where: Kitab Khana, Somaiya Bhavan, Flora Fountain, Fort
When: May 18, 5.30 PM
Free
Call: 61702276

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

Photographer and graphic designer Anusha Yadav started the Indian Memory Project, an online, visual, narrative-based archive in 2010, to trace the history of the subcontinent via photographs and letters. Pic/Ashish Raje

EarLier this week, artist and oral historian Aanchal Malhotra, 28, travelled nearly 240 km to Chandigarh from Delhi, to meet a nonagenarian, who had lived through the Partition of 1947. As she speaks about it now, there's a lump in her throat. "I couldn't sleep that entire night," Malhotra confesses. "Even 70 years on, the woman is so afraid to talk about it. It had everything, from gun fire, to fleeing from her home in Pakistan, to her brother and mother being taken as prisoners, and to giving birth in a forest on her way to India. When she first delivered the baby, her immediate response was to throw it away. You can imagine what trauma she was experiencing." What surprised Malhotra most was when the 90-year-old asked her what she would do with her story. "I said that I wanted to publish it. The woman's immediate response was, 'who will read this?'. They really think that nobody cares. But, this is the story that has shaped the future of contemporary India."

The jewellery Aanchal Malhotra is wearing, was made in the North-West Frontier Province and was given to her great-grandmother, Lajvanti Gulyani, by her in-laws on her wedding to Hari Chand Gulyani in the year 1919. But it could have been in the Gulyani family before that as well. Since she became a widow quite young and was a single mother at the time of Partition, it was carried by her to India in 1947 because she thought she would be able to sell it and earn money to put her children through school. She then gave it to Malhotra’s grandmother, who has now given it to her. Pic/Nishad Alam

Malhotra is the author of Remnants of Separation (HarperCollins India), a book that revisited the Partition through objects carried across the border, and the co-founder — along with Navdha Malhotra — of The Museum of Material Memory, a digital repository of material culture of the Indian subcontinent, tracing family histories and ethnography through heirlooms and objects of antiquity. Since the launch of the archive last year, the founders have put together over 35 heartwarming object stories. Closer home, photographer and graphic designer Anusha Yadav's Indian Memory Project — an online, visual, narrative-based archive, founded in 2010, which traces the history of the subcontinent via photographs and letters — has helped us see history in another light. There is also Paris-based perfumer Jahnvi Lakhota Nandan, whose recently-published book, Pukka Indian: 100 objects that Define India (Roli Books), documents the most coveted symbols and designs representing our culture, by tracing its origin and significance in our lives. All three projects while different in essence and form, have one common intent — to record untold stories from our history and preserve them for posterity. But, as Malhotra's subject asked her, why should anyone be curious?

The chakla and belan originated in 7,500 – 6,000 BCE in Punjab. At the time, this region was cultivating wheat and barley extensively. Rather than using the flatness of the chakla and the pressure of the belan to what we might expect to be used around the country to make flatbread, whatever the ingredient might be, it is only in this region of north India that the chakla and belan were used simply because wheat and barley lend themselves to kneading. What must have been perceived as a high-technology kitchen tool then, the chakla and belan soon spread to other parts of the country. Text courtesy/Pukka India by Jahnvi Lakhota Nanda, Roli books; Pic/Shivani Gupta

Celebrating the mundane
Nandan, an alumnus of the School of Art and Design at Tsukuba University, Japan, admits that her project stemmed out of her curiosity to find out about the designs that define us an Indian. "Design is a mirror of our attitudes and habits. Through the course of writing this book on Indian design, I found that uniquely Indian gestures like churning, combing and calculating were reflected in it," she writes in the book. From the dabba, agarbatti, and kulhad, to Babuline gripe water, most of the objects Nandan chose for the book, have "either been made or originated in India, or have an element that is very Indian, or are being used in a very Indian context".

This picture is of Purvi Sanghvi’s grandfather Dwarkadas Jivanlal Sanghvi (extreme right in a black coat) and his brother Vallabhdas Jivanlal Sanghvi with their business partners at a Pen Exhibition in Bombay around 1951. The family ran Wilson Pens that quickly rose to huge fame and became a preferred choice of pens across the country. All government offices, law court, used the Wilson pens. The Wilson Pen Family made the orange, thick-nibbed pen that wrote the most fundamental document that defines the state of India: The Constitution of India written by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Pic, Text Courtesy/Indian Memory Project/Contributed by Purvi Sanghvi, Mumbai

It's while working on the book that Nandan realised how "our own homes are a repository of history". Here, she relays an incident when Shivani Gupta, the photographer for Pukka Indian, had been anxious about finding a mandira — a butter churner — that Nandan had mentioned in the book. "She went home, and realised that she had five of them in her kitchen. She didn't even know she was sitting on so much wealth." Nandan adds, "We don't tend to celebrate the mundane. What we celebrate are things that have obvious value, like jewellery, the beautification of the body or the exotic."

Paris-based perfumer Jahnvi Lakhota Nandan's recent book, Pukka Indian, documents the most coveted symbols and designs representing Indian culture, by tracing its origin and significance in the lives of its users. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Object as a catalyst
Malhotra's interest in people's histories began while working on Remnants of Separation, which was an extension of her Master of Fine Arts thesis project for Concordia University, Canada. Malhotra's research began after she came across a gaz (a measuring device) and ghara (a pot), which belonged to her nana's family, and had crossed the border. "Sometimes the Partition is too traumatic to speak about. When I started my research, I didn't know where to begin or what I could ask, without sounding frivolous. The object became a catalyst to enter into that conversation. So, rather than me saying 'Oh! You lived through the Partition, that must be awful,' I was now asking relevant questions, like 'why did you choose to take this gold bangle with you?'. The object then, didn't become something that recessed into the background, but something around which the entire background was arranged."

That's when she and Navdha decided to start The Museum of Material Memory. The duo encourages everyone to contribute, provided the object is from or before the 1970s. The archive comprises everything from a 5-inch-long, mottled sewing needle to a chaddar with traditional baagh and phulkari embroidery and a former Class II Income-Tax officer's diary filled up with the repeated words 'Sri Rama Jayam', meaning Jai Sri Ram. Each post is accompanied with the story behind the object. "Material ethnography is so vastly explored in the West, especially when it comes to events of trauma and crisis. What we are recording here, will never be found in any textbook. We need active memoralisation, not just of traumatic events, but of our tradition and culture, which is primarily oral."

Not just for nostalgia's sake
The indianmemoryproject.com, says Yadav, started off as a book idea, where she wanted to collect old, wedding photographs. "I wanted to document the idea of weddings in different cultures, and explore the entire phenomena behind the crew that makes it possible," she says. "While the book didn't happen, the pictures stayed with me." That's how, her archive, a first-of-its-kind in India, took off. "If you are fascinated with history, you will know that India really is a melting pot. Every civilisation has passed through it. And so we have all kinds of DNA in us. And considering photography was discovered two centuries ago, we did have a lot of content to discuss," says Yadav.

She admits that it wasn't as easy to get people to share their photographs or talk about their stories. "But, there needs to be integrity, transparency and you need to earn the trust of your subject. When you have these value systems in place, people are more open. I always thought of the archive as an institution." Funding for the project has been tough, says the archivist. "When I began, I was very clear that I didn't want to become a trust. Unfortunately, that's the channel through which most of the money comes from. But, there's a server and maintenance cost and the site constantly needs to be upgraded. Now, I have started putting in requests for honorariums. The only way I will get money is through a private funder, who is fascinated with the idea, and wants to back it as well. Sometimes, when a good sum comes from my own work as a photographer, part of the profits go to it. At the end of the day, it is an unofficial record of history, and I'm doing my best to sustain it."

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

The romanticising of vinyls is not without reason - the gritty, warm sound, the bout of nostalgia and the act of listening may all be cliches, but they also hold true. And today being World Record Store Day, there is perhaps no better way of spending it than actually being in one. So here are a few that can satiate everyone from the grandpa obsessed with Madhubala to the hipster who wears socks from different pairs. Take your pick.

The Revolver Club
Jude D'Souza (seated in pic), CeO at The Revolver Club, says, "I once got a call about someone wanting to purchase weapons and another one asking how they could join this club." He explains that the name is a play on the revolving aspect of vinyls and also an ode to a Beatles album. D'Souza set up the store with co-founder Shalom Benjamin about three years ago, and it has now become a go-to hub for record junkies.
At: LJ Road, Mahim West.
Call: 9833182255
Cost: Rs 100 to Rs 25,000

Royal Music Collection
Known simply as Abdul Razaak's store to those in the trade, this shop tucked away in Fort has been around since 1982. Featuring an array of languages and genres, the stock is a treasure trove of collectors' records. "Most of my customers are regulars and now that record players are back, I get some new ones too. Much what I have comes from old collections, so it's cheap and exquisite," says Razaak, the owner.
At: Kitab Mahal, Dr DN Road.
Call: 98209 33365
Cost: Rs 250 to Rs 2,000.

Music Circle
Pilak Bhatt, owner of Music Centre, which has been around for five years, says he has been collecting records for the last 40 years. At his store you can find both pre-owned records and new ones. "Because of my passion and love for music, I want this format to stay alive. Analogue sound is natural and warm and records have lovely artwork. Plus, there's ample information about the artistes. The sound of Mp3s isn't great, and people are realising that, which is why this revival has come about," Bhatt says.
At: V Mall, Kandivali east
Call: 9833062221
Cost: Rs 300 to Rs 2,000

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates