WEDNESDAY 21
Open mic
Have you got a passion for music? Open Mic Night held at Lock, Stock & Barrel Barsha Heights returns to the stage today from 9pm. Performance slots are filling up fast, so if you think you’ve got what it takes to be the next big act here in Dubai mail gaz@solutionsleisure.com. Who knows where it may take you?
Over the weekend I dusted off my copy of Vikram Chandra’s Sacred Games, bought over 10 years back, most probably from an airport bookstall, for the princely sum of Dhs25. With Season 2 of the Anurag Kashyap-neeraj Ghaywan directed web series, starring Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the lead, currently the hot topic across social media, the time is ripe for yet another rereading of a book I consider one of my most precious literary possessions. My first acquaintance with the genius of Chandra was through Red Earth and Pouring Rain, a prescribed read for our Indian Writing segment in PG. The immersive art of reading a book is unparalleled in my opinion - and no amount of visual wizardry can ever match it. And I’m speaking from cold experience. Take The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones for example - there were days when I’d rush to the bookstore from work before heading home just to grab the next series of both these books. George R. R Martin’s infamous fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, of which Game of Thrones was just the first, was such an obsession that I remember binge reading the first four tomes in record time. When the series first took off, I was flabbergasted to learn that so many of its professed die hard fans, were completely unaware that their favourite show was based on a story first consumed in print. Currently I’m reading Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace, which is of course a Netflix series now. It’s taken me a week to reach the last chapter of the nearly 1000 page novel - there’s no way I would have given it up for the instant gratification of watching the story unravel on screen. I’d rather let my mind soar on the wings of imagination powered by words than sit back and mindlessly indulge visually in a story that demands nothing but my unwavering eyes. Are you a book person or do you prefer to be waylaid by pure optics? Let us know!