Bengalis take pride in three names -- Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray and now Sourav Ganguly -- and these are the ones who often come to the Bhodralok's rescue when they're cornered in pseudo-intellectual debate.

My dad, being a proud Bengali, wanted his sons to absorb as much of Tagore and Ray, but as luck would have it none of his sons showed much interest in them.

However, being a subservient son has its own perils and the price I had to pay was life-threatening for, as a ten-year-old kid, I was asked to watch Pather Panchali with my dad repeatedly lecturing that the masterpiece was not about poverty, but human bonds. I could not relate to what he was saying; the film had no fights, no dhishoom-dhishoom, no songs and tough to interpret for a juvenile brain.

I cursed my dad that day for making me sit through the movie and despite being told that it was not about a bunch of hapless souls, all I could fathom was black and white images of hunger and suffering. This experience of

Visitors to Van Wilks' home in deep South Austin, Texas, are arrested by the sign "Welcome to Guitarland." In a state teeming with A-list guitarists, that sign packs quite a statement. And Wilks' claim to that heavyweight list is more than justified. None less than another distinguished Texan, ZZTop's acclaimed guitarist Billy Gibbons, tipped his hat to Wilks' electrifying talent. In Texas, where Wilks is reputed as a player of uncommon depth, he has been voted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame. He also took home two Austin Music Awards at SXSW 2009 and was voted Best Electric Guitarist and Best Acoustic Guitarist, a rare double win, in The Austin Chronicle's annual Music Poll.

Van Wilks has performed with Willie Nelson on the Geezinslaw Brothers' The Eclectic Horseman and with Eric Johnson on the Texas Christmas Collection. "I don't have any choice, playing guitar is a natural extension of my soul," muses Wilks ahead of his first-ever concert in India.

Van Wilks Band is one of the

On 28^th March, I reached Mumbai from New Delhi (via Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata and Jaipur). I was supposed to reach Bangalore from Bhubaneshwar around March 15. The reason for my cross-country railway marathon? Trying to, or rather having the vast courage to, book my railway tickets online from IRCTC. If you are an agent making a living from overcharging tourists, stop reading NOW. And if you don't want to read this long, heart-rending post, a few quick bites before you go away:

• 6,111 agents have been blacklisted by IRCTC
• Of them, 4,310 were using multiple user IDs
• 1,005 have been claiming fraudulent TDRs
• 2 super-thug agents from Mumbai have been banned by the Railway Ministry
• Problems related to IRCTC are discussed daily on Consumer Forum sites, Grahak Seva, Cleartrip Forum, National Consumer Complaint Forum, apart from loads of blogs
• A friend Tweeted, 'Rajnikanth is faster than Intel Processors, but IRCTC can hang Rajnikanth'

I had gone to Orissa on

I did once make a promise not to write on music greats but sometimes trawling the net can make you do things that you promised not to do. So looking up Kurt Cobain on his death anniversary threw up some strange results that ranged from his statue being unveiled to a video of some kid singing the famed 'Rape me' song but none on the genius or his life. Appalling, sometimes I feel libraries with racks of magazines and books are better than the infinite repository of information called the Internet.

This piece comes a bit too late as April 5 marked the 18th anniversary of the death of the enigmatic Kurt Cobain.

I can vividly picture the day I was introduced to Nirvana by a friend of mine. After school, we had a habit of exchanging comics, books and even music  - when this friend of mine came up to me and said 'Man,you got to listen to this, this will blow your mind' and handed me a copy of Nirvana's Nevermind.

I headed home, excited, not knowing what to expect and checked if my parents



Continental AG has developed a technology that changes the driving dynamics of the car, out of a choice of three pre-configured modes - Comfort, Eco and Sport. The system called 'Simplify Your Drive' enables drivers to exploit their vehicles' full functional potential, rather buy one car and experience many different ones.

Continental has integrated the technology into a Volkswagen Passat. The car doesn't look any different, cosmetically. However, the motor, chassis and suspension settings can be configured to fit any situation on the road. Although many other carmakers offer sport, comfort and eco settings, I must say Continental has the most appealing system so far, thanks to simple yet appealing Human Machine

Bobby Whitlock with CoCo CarmelMusic aficionados who trace Eric Clapton's career before he shone as a solo star argue that there has never been a better Clapton than the maverick of Derek and the Dominos. Those are the very loyalists who will raise a glass of whatever they are swilling at the mention of Bobby Whitlock. Yet, despite his monumental contribution to the making of "Layla", the singular hit that looped the lives of Clapton and that late great Beatle George Harrison around common love interest Pattie Boyd, Whitlock himself did not become much of a household name. On the turntables of the faithful, however, he played on. He continued to anchor Clapton, assisting with writing memorable songs such as "Tell the Truth", "Keep on Growing", " I Looked Away", "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad" and "Roll It Over".

Girl children in IndiaTo be killed before you are born is inexplicable. For the 10 million girl children who were brutally killed due to selective abortions [after pre-natal screening between 2001 and 2011], the first blow landed before they were born. ABC News did an expose last year where it claimed that a staggering 40 million women have gone 'missing'. The result? The sex ratio has dipped to 918 girls for every 1000 males in 2011 from 927 girls in 2001.

For the girls who make the cut, it's not over, gendercide awaits. India has among the highest rates of girl children being killing after birth in the world (by women who can't afford pre-natal screening). It's a girl; three words that sound the death knell. After carrying their babies for nine months, mothers or midwives will put an end to the 'burden' by slamming their heads against the wall, burying them alive or stuffing a wet cloth in their mouths. Survive this and malnourishment follows, felling more. Around 2.5 million children die in India every