On Saturday, April 23, Andrej Grubacic (Grubačić) spoke at the Saratoga Library. The topic of his talk was " Don't Mourn, Balkanize!" which is also the title of his recent book. Grubacic read passages from historical books that described Europeans' (West Europeans') idea of Balkan and its people. Grubacic argued for political disintegration of Balkan (and the world), that this political division should take place not from the top but from the bottom.
Grubacis is certainly not the only one unhappy with the current global political and economic setup.

An adult Santa Cruz Garter Snake found on the PG&E trail in the Rancho San Antonio Park.

What's so special about P. Sainath? He is listening to the village folks and telling their stories to the city folks in a language that is understood and respected by the Indian decision makers.
On April 10, Palagummi Sainath spoke to a small audience after the screening of "Nero's Guests", at the San Jose Peace and Justice Center.

In the literary sitting attended by over 40 people, Nasl-e-Sokhta, Matti ka Baita, Mukalmay ka qatl, Shab Gazeedeh Sahar, and Aina Kahani written by K Ashraf (Dr. Khawaja Ashraf) were reviewed.

Complete audio recording of the program is here:
http://www.archive.org/details/ReviewOfDr.KhawajaAshrafsFiveBooks

Prominent Urdu short story writer K Ashraf's recently published five books were reviewed in a literary meeting arranged by the Urdu Academy of North America, on Sunday, April 17, at the Chandni Restaurant in Newark.

Urdu Academy of North America, under the leadership of Tashie Zaheer, arranged a literary evening on Friday, January 14, to welcome Jameela Nishat and introduced her to local literati. Nishat read selected poems during the meeting. After each recitation English translation of the poem was also presented for the benefit of those not conversant in Urdu.

Jameela Nishat is a feminist Urdu poetess based in Hyderabad AP. She visited the San Francisco Bay Area in January of this year.

Snow on Andes

Many of this very creative filmmaker's shorts can be seen at YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/askalikapadia

Ali Kapadia is a talented filmmaker from Karachi, living in San Francisco. On Sunday, April 3, Kapadia screened his short films at the Pakistani American Culture Center in San Jose.

On Sunday, April 3, around 200 people gathered at the India Community Center, Milpitas to listen to fine Urdu poetry in a program called 'Gulha e Ranga Rang.' The program was arranged by Bay Area Urdu teacher Hamida Banu Chopra.