Amy Gahran, now the editor at Poynter's E-Media Tidbits writes in her own blog that Stanford University is offering a fellowship that is conceivably open to bloggers and so-called Citizen Journalists.

The fellowship is at the Center for the Study of the North American West and includes between $3500-$7000 plus access to the Center's library.

Apply, if you qualify and if you are interested.

I just read that Shekhar Kapur will again direct Kate Blanchett in The Golden Age, a sequel to Elizabeth, a 1998 Oscar-nominated film. I remember Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love both arrived in theaters at about the same time and they were both excellent period films.

Angélique who won one of the copies of The Space Between Us that I was giving away has written in with a short review here. For the longer review visit her terrific site. I have one more copy of the book left. If you want it, follow these instructions. I'll randomly choose one lucky person to receive the book.

The Review:

A truly beautiful, but haunting, story about two women in India. One of them, Sera Dubash, is a well-to-do Parsi lady and mistress of a household; the other is her servant Bhima who is a poor Hindu woman who has been in Sera's employment for 20 years.  These are two women from vastly differing lifestyles whose lives become intertwined.
 
Although this book can at times read like a social commentary on the haves and the have-nots of Bombay, the caste system and the power that wealth and education can wield in a country where so many people are poor and illiterate, it would be unfair to limit it to that because it is so much more! It's a poignant and touching book about relationships and relating – master to servant; daughters and mothers; husbands with wives and, best of all – friendships between women (despite hailing from different worlds, the two main characters, Sera and Bhima, developed a friendship based not only on their gender but also on a familiarity that enabled them to share a lot of secrets and tragedies)
 
The characters are just wonderful – flawed but endearing all the same. I loved both Bhima and Sera and while it might be tempting to love (or maybe at least pity) Bhima more for being poor, one sees that even the poor are not exempt from heaping their own prejudices on their fellow men.

While this story may have been set in the big bad city of Bombay, the city famous for its slums and equally famous for its flamboyant Bollywood stars and its filthy rich industrialists, the questions it raises in no way limit it to any one geographical setting because they are universal in nature. It asks: in a situation of conflict, what must come first, blood (family) or friendship? Is loyalty a more valued virtue or is truthfulness? Must the rich always win? Must the poor always lose?

Besides writing a beautiful story, Thrity Umrigar has also given us some wonderful glimpses into the city of Bombay and its people. The scenes depicting the daily struggles of Bombay’s poor – the queue for the communal toilet in the slums and the dismal government hospitals, as well as the atmospheric Chowpathy beach scenes – are by far the strongest. I also love her insights into the fascinating and endearing Parsi community of Bombay and the way she incorporates Indian speech patterns when her characters, especially Bhima, have something to say. I would dearly love to listen to an audio version of this book when they have one.

Not since Rohinton Mistry's “A Fine Balance” have I read such a wonderful novel set in the sub-continent.  Highly recommended!

The image above was originally uploaded by Sandip Debnath.

Jigar‘s most recent post mentioned Sandip Debnath's images on Flickr. So I had to take a look and found some very interesting images. This one may not be the best of the lot but it conveys a great mind shift in India in terms of what is “proper.”

Am I being a prude? Not really – but when I left India in 1983, you can bet I didn't see any ads with women baring their legs, shoulders or arms. This image shot in a Bangalore shopping mall makes so many statements about the way we look at women and the role of men in society. Care to share your comments?

I'll often post images here that are interesting, curious and even spectacular. Would you also like to have your images showcased on this blog? If so, join my Flickr community group also called Tiffinbox. Thoughts, suggestions, opinions always welcome, so please leave your comments below.

This post is sponsored by Seshu's Pipal Productions – Wedding Photojournalism At Its Best: Elegant. Memorable. Real.

Prof. Sreenath Sreenivasan of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism is currently on a trip with 16 students through spiritual India. Track their day-to-day thoughts and activities at Covering Religion.

The image above was originally uploaded by Jennifer Esperanza.

When you smile, the world smiles with you.

I'll often post images here that are interesting, curious and even spectacular. Would you also like to have your images showcased on this blog? If so, join my Flickr community group also called Tiffinbox. Thoughts, suggestions, opinions always welcome, so please leave your comments below.

This post is sponsored by Seshu's Pipal Productions – Wedding Photojournalism At Its Best: Elegant. Memorable. Real.

Stock Artists Alliance has a blog set up to keep abreast of the Orphan Works debate [debacle?]

The Online Photographer satirizes a photography ban of the homeless. I thought satire was supposed to be witty.

Send in a picture, give a buck, get a sketch back

Amy Gahran of Contentious and The Right Conversation is taking over for Steve Outing as Poynter's E-Media Tidbits editor.

From Photoethnography.com: “Salon.com has a wonderful series titled Ask the Pilot where former pilot, Patrick Smith, ruminates on the airline industry. His most recent article touches upon photography at airports and how we are rapidly becoming much like pre-Glasnost Soviet Russia.”

Adobe will invest $200 million in India over the next 5 years.

Amit Varma at India Uncut writes that the future is digital. So true, well, except the future is now.

I don't know how many of you have been to Tokyo and ridden in one of the commuter trains during the morning rush hour. Let me tell you that it is a trip and a half. There are white gloved train employees hired to do nothing more than thrust with all their might as many people as they can into one train car as possible. The trains take on a sometime amusing, but mostly exasperating hue on one's pysche, as you think of yourself as a sardine being slammed shut into a tin can.

I mentioned the Blank Noise Blog-A-Thon here and I had hoped to pen something substantiative on March 7, but it just didn't happen. So here is my attempt at redemption.

Boing Boing picked up the Blank Noise blog-a-thon and reading the post in my news aggregator today brought back a specific memory that may seem appropriate to narrate.

About 10 years ago, when I was a student in Tokyo, one of my classmates [name withheld] often mentioned being sexually harassed in the crowded trains. The culprits were almost always older men. As the trains swayed, so did the men into her. While usually an apology is offered and almost expected in Japanese culture for bumping into someone, she said the offending “ojiisan” [literally “grandfather”] acted as if nothing really had happened. It was a near daily ritual. She had had her butt pinched and palmed, and her breasts groped.

When the rains came she felt an umbrella handle being wedged between her legs. At that point, she had had enough. I remember her telling us that as a station approached, she turned around and stuck a safety pin in the guy [yep, she was armed and ready this time]. As he shrieked in pain and exited the train, she followed him out onto the station platform and let loose a series of Japanese epithets that are simply unprintable here. Aghast and mostly ashamed, the man did little more than turn and run away.

Listening to my friend describe her experiences were a mixed group of students from the US and Europe. It's not that sexual harassment doesn't exist in the West, but we were honestly stunned to hear about the old man's lecherous actions given all that we had heard about the extremely ethical Japanese culture. A few rotten apples always seem to sully a good experience, but we secretly agreed that the best course of action was to punish the man with pain and then public humiliation.

The question, though, is if the actions of a dirty old man is pervasive in that particular society. Does it happen enough number of times in a day to enough number of women to make it an epidemic? According to Blank Noise even one woman or girl being harassed is one too many. I have to agree. Be a real man. Support the site, support the project. Learn about this very complex issue. Now.

The image above was originally uploaded by Arindam Thokder.

I love the layering, the quality of the light, the color and most of all the perspective; it places me right where the action is.

I can almost hear the water lapping gently on the stone steps. The contrast of the image is nearly perfect. The exposure is spot on with smooth gradations from dark to light. Beautifully crafted!

I'll often post images here that are interesting, curious and even spectacular. Would you also like to have your images showcased on this blog? If so, join my Flickr community group also called Tiffinbox. Thoughts, suggestions, opinions always welcome, so please leave your comments below.

This post is sponsored by Seshu's Pipal Productions – Wedding Photojournalism At Its Best: Elegant. Memorable. Real.

I am strongly considering a trip up to Boston for Podcast Academy, on April 28 and 29. Register by March 15 and save $50. Anyone else want to join me?

Take the 30-day Photo Challenge

Edit pictures online at Pixoh

Get the low-down on the business of graphic design from Daniel Schutzsmith

Hey, Hot Shot!

Sabeer Bhatia has a new project – BlogEverywhere.com

Speaking Tips

Dave Werner – a terrific designer, a terrific website

Desi portfolios: Nick Oza and Bhargavi Joshi