Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

BREAKING STORY (London): A love letter by Napoleon, words of comfort from John Donne, a plea for tolerance from Mahatma Gandhi are among the hand-written treasures from a private collection up for auction in London next month, Christie's auctioneers said on Monday. The extensive collection, estimated to sell for $4 million at the July 3 sale, was quietly amassed over three decades by the late Albin Schram, who kept them in a filing cabinet in his home in Lausanne, Switzerland, according to Christie's. The star of the collection is a letter by Donne, the celebrated priest and poet, which Christie's said is "the finest manuscript by his hand in existence" and is estimated to sell for $240,000). Donne wrote to Lady Kingsmill in 1624, offering consolation for the death of her husband. "Let us not, who know in God's house there are many mansions, but yet have no model, no design of the form of that building, wonder at his taking in of his materials, why he tak...

If you thought cartoons were there only to make you laugh, then think again. The cartoon auction organ ised by the Blue Cross of Hyderabad on Saturday night raised about Rs 3 lakhs, half of which will go to save endangered olive ridley turtles in Orissa, People were ready to shell out Rs 5,000 to Rs 11,000 for the cartoons. Cartoons are often conceived as both humorous and deeply serious. Combining both fictional and non-fictional elements, cartoons have been used to comment on and critique various issues. The theme was mobile communication, and the cartoons illustrated how we are increasingly becoming dependent on such modes of communications as the cellphone and the Internet. The cartoon by Shyam Mohan, the president of indianink.org, a website dedicated to cartoons and cartoonists, depicted a dancing couple in each others’ arms, but using cellphones for communication. Despite scepticism on how cartoons would do in an auction, Mr Mohan was confident that the show would be a success. ...