https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2016/dylan-lecture.html

hugovk @ flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/hugovk/

New book – one of a series – available now on Amazon kindle.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071SH7LLC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1495835251&sr=8-2&keywords=urmilla+deshpande

photo by Ira Rosenberg

I am and have been, since as far back as I can remember, a fan of Mohammad Ali. As a teenager his was the last face I saw before I slept, the first when I woke up: Artistically dotted with sweat like condensation on a cold glass, he stood ringside, unsmiling, gloves one over the other. The poster over my bed was life sized. Imagine my disbelief and delight when a man I dated (for the shortest of times,) who worked at the American consulate in Bombay, said he would get me ringside seats at the exhibition match. I cannot even describe what I felt when I got to shake one those hands from inside those gloves. I didn’t pass out, thankfully.

Before that, In 1976, I was in (then) Yugoslavia, visiting my mother and new-born sister. One of Ali’s fights was to be televised live in Europe. I had never seen anything live on TV before. Then my mother said the landlady had a color TV – I didn’t know such a thing existed! So off we went, and I sat there watching, mouth open, completely enthralled by the whole experience. We are used to this now, but to watch, in color, my hero, in real time when the term real time wasn’t yet invented – it is one of the most memorable events of my life. Still is. While my mother and I were at the landlady’s, we had put my white jeans (it was 1976, people wore white jeans) in a pot on the stove to boil away the grime. When we went back upstairs, the house was full of smoke, the jeans were a small black lump stuck to the pot, my baby sister had not asphyxiated because my mother had put a towel under her bedroom door to prevent the warmth from the space heater seeping out. But that’s another story, nothing to do with Mohammad Ali or my love for him.

Watching him these last years, not floating like a butterfly, not even making a sentence without trouble, was what made me question my great love for football, and why I stopped watching it altogether.

He died too young, and I am aware that what killed him was also what made me love him.

Slither is now freely available for sale:

Digital download at Amazon $ 2.99

Print copy at Amazon $ 7.77 with free shipping for Prime

Digital download Smashwords $ 2.99

You can read the first story free on createspace and add a review if you like.

Marcus Roberts talks about the kickstarter project – video

Marcus Roberts, genius of modern piano, is working on a new recording – “Romance, Swing, and the Blues” – with Marcus Roberts and his new band, the Modern Jazz Generation. My son, Tissa Khosla, is part of this new band.

Here is a link to Marcus’ kickstarter project, which will contribute to funding for the new band, and this recording.

Modern Jazz Generation, Rose Theater, JALC, New York

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/970600694/romance-swing-and-the-blues

http://www.mansworldindia.com/features/five-mystics-and-the-tamil-bad-girls/2/page-1

Ebook available at Smashwords for .99

Goodreads says,  “Unfortunately, for scaling reasons, the sale of new ebooks has been suspended until further notice. Only existing ebooks will still be offered for sale…”

Ebook available at Smashwords for .99