Opinion

A childhood with no homework would be idyllic, but that, in spite of the efforts of the NCERT, is far from the reality of today's India

Party gamesFrantic searchHeating upMoney problemsDampened spirits

• Sir - The city seems to be bursting at the seams with cricket enthusiasts on the days when the Indian Premier League matches are held at Eden Gardens. My office is located close to the stadium and it becomes nearly impossible to get back home on these days. First, buses are chock-a-block and yellow cab drivers, if they agree to the destination, ask for steep sums. Then, app-based cab services hike their rates, charging unreasonable prices if one manages to book a car in spite of the increased demand. Even the metro is too crowded to avail. The government should ensure that more buses and metros ply on match days so that ordinary people are not made to suffer.

When you plan a road trip, the first thing you do - other than arriving at a unanimous decision on the destination - is plan the route. And for that you need a map.

Let's talk a bit about NotAboutery. No it is not about Mahadeb although it is true Mahadeb is still not about and the initiated could be forgiven for assuming NotAboutery is about Mahadeb not being about.

Common ShameSlow poisoningCount downUncommon wealth

India resonated at both the private and public levels during Tuesday's highly emotional three-hour debate on anti-Semitism in the British House of Commons. The personal anecdotes made me wonder whether it was racist of us as schoolboys in Calcutta to fling rulers at Justin Aaron, the only Jewish boy in our class until one of the Nahoum brothers briefly joined us, and order him to turn them into serpents like his biblical namesake. Someone even composed a verse, "Justin Aaron, king of the Jews/ Sold his wife for a pair of shoes". There was a second verse about demanding his wife back when the shoes wore out, but the words escape me after all these years.

Perhaps we will now stop referring disparagingly to women cricketers as "Eves", since we don't call the men "Adams". Maybe sports pages will give them as much space as men. Lawrence Booth, the innovative editor of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2018, has put a woman on its cover for the first time in 155 years. But then Anya Shrubsole wrested victory from the jaws of defeat in the World Cup final against India at Lord's last summer by taking six wickets for 46 runs. It was a heartbreak year for India as the men lost to Pakistan in the Champion's Trophy final at the Oval.

Original Indian drama in English offered two excellent visiting exemplars recently, their content and style at completely opposite poles. Nilanjan Choudhury's The Square Root of a Sonnet, by Centre for Film and Drama (Bangalore), brings science to the popular ken in ways that recall Michael Frayn's Copenhagen and Complicité's A Disappearing Number. Like the former, it extracts the drama in the career of a Nobel laureate in physics; like the latter, it sheds light on the achievement of an Indian scientist about whom our general public knows precious little. The second reason is a compelling one to persuade the organizers, the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, to make the edifying text available to school and university students.

The year 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Italy. Thus, to commemorate the occasion, a slew of cultural programmes were organized across Indian cities. Among these was the highly-anticipated concert of the chamber orchestra, Cameristi della Scala, at the Victoria Memorial on March 16 - its debut performance in Calcutta. Cameristi della Scala has as its members the musicians of the orchestra of Teatro alla Scala di Milano. Interestingly, it often performs in the formation with and without a conductor, and alongside playing chamber orchestra masterpieces from the 18th century to the present, it works actively to promote the works of lesser known Italian composers.