The Senility Prayer

Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.

[Via email from Ingrid Srinath.]

One remembers the dancing baby

[via email from Monisha]

R.I.P. Luciano Pavarotti

Nessun Dorma

Extract from the lyrics:

ll nome suo nessun sapra
E noi dovrem, ahime! Morir! Morir!
Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle!
Tramontate, stelle! All‚alba vincero!
Vincero! Vincero!

Translated:
Nobody will discover his name
And we shall have to die, alas! Die!

Depart, o night! Set, you stars!
Set, you stars! At dawn I shall win!
I shall win! I shall win!

Thank you for the music, Maestro.

J B D'Souza on Journalism and Profit

An extract:

It is, of course, possible for publishers to argue that theirs is a business like any other; they are in the business to maximise profit and that profits come not from news of events and analysis of them, not from readers’ satisfaction, but from advertisements, and advertisers have to be kept happy. The fact is that the press is not a business like any other; it is much more. Its prime responsibility is to its readers, a responsibility to inform. It is for this reason that it enjoys the freedom protected by the Constitution. The lust for money must not be allowed to obscure this advantage. “As editors collude ever

The rest here.

J B D'Souza, R.I.P.

Mr J B D'souza, former state chief secretary and ex-municipal commissioner, and one of those very, very few individuals of whom I have heard no ill, passed away last night.

Got this message from Dilip's phone this evening.

Bain, Dilip's father, died peacefully last night. He was 86. We thought you would like to know. Vibha and Dilip.

Dilip, Vibha, the world is poorer for this. Our thoughts are with you and your family.