A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject - Winston Churchill.
'Change' has always been a very controversial aspect in my life. Change in opinions, views, principles, actions.. More often than not, I've been berated by elders about how my views were very different and better until a few years back, how the changes in positions do not seem to bode well for a good character, how the ancestors were 'wise' enough to formulate a fully optimized code in life which doesn't need any more fine tuning. Perhaps, everyone might have gone through a similar phase in their lives,. perhaps not..
When I was growing up, I made the stupidity of acting mature prematurely. Having opinions on serious topics, not being involved in flimsy activities, not considering the typical 'fun' activities as fun! I used to be in the company of my parents, aunts, grannies than being with friends or people my age. I used to feel good when people appreciated that I was 'mature'. And by maturity, I believe what they meant to imply was that I was accepting the status quo as they were and not questioning them with my child-like curiosity or adolescent cranks; due to which I let everyone take many of my positions in many of the issues, seriously, which by the way were bound to evolve later!
During that 'era' I'm speaking about, when I was home, and when my views reflected those of who I respected or admired, I made lot of stupid opinions, like feminist organizations are creating a fuss about most minor incidents to harass men, and that women need not work if husband is earning well so that home is sweet home, and that gay pride is an urban fantasy which was not exactly a natural need, and that abiding by one's religious doctrines makes one a better person because all those religious pioneers were born with an extra brain and an extra thing AND that romance was bad, and married couples were being offensive by holding hands!
I must say, I screwed it big time. I mean, how worse can it be?? I pretended to be mature when I wasn't. It wasn't even maturity! It was like I wanted to be like my grandpa(not that he was any bad, he was gem of a person, but he belonged typically to his generation!)! Due to which I was blind without curiosity. I was dogmatic and self-righteous. I refused to change. I didn't want to explore, or read or understand if what I believed was actually right. But when I was on my feet, technically because I was employed, and because I met a lot of people from different cultures in the office, and because I was in Bangalore, the youth's paradise, and because I started opening my eyes to not just see, but to read and understand, and because I started watching a lot of good movies from across the globe and not just Mohanlal solving some petty murder cases like he's a Sherlock Holmes, I started changing.
I started understanding how gay-rights were crushed in the Victorian era and the struggle evolved. I understood how religion made our brains rest and rust. I understood how a woman has to be self-reliant come-what-may. It was a total change. I started looking at the job aspect for women as serious as for men. I no more wanted to have a woman change her surname because she was married, instead I wanted her to uphold her individuality. I no more believed in religion. I was convinced that for all the vices that India has, religion holds the greatest culpability, the inequality, poverty of one section, oppression of women and glorification of men, importance of a male heir and lack of importance for female kids, concept of dowry and concept of marrying-'off' the girls thereby removing them from your family's roll call.I no more wanted to worship a God who would stratify his subjects.
Well, a lot of these changes were controversial, especially the agnostic part. And I still hear comments from relatives about how I didn't 'stick to my words' and 'flipped'.
The moment you shun your dogma, you start looking at most things through a different prism. 6yrs back, when a friend suggested if Ramayana were to be a fiction written by a genius who crafted amazingly different characters like the monkey who could jump from TN to SriLanka, and the chivalrous gentleman who was committed to his wife, and the villain who was attracted to the beautiful heroine like any bollywood movie, I shuddered at the blaspheme. Years later, when I watched Troy, I wondered. Those Greeks and Trojans also had Gods and religions like us. They had also believed the Gods would help them at war, but undoubtedly the Greeks were defeated. So where were the Greek Gods?? Why did they let their faithful subjects lose? Of course Iliad was a fiction. But why couldn't Ramayana or Mahabharata be? If there can be such amazing creations like Lord of the Rings with such different creatures like Hobbits and Orcs and Dwarfs, and if there can be such intricately beautiful works like Game of Thrones written in just a span of 15-20yrs, why would it be inconceivable that these religious epics were indeed someone's masterpieces?
Well, almost all of my past views changed eventually. It's almost like I'm no more the anachronistic dogmatic girl I once was! But is that really bad??
Khuda Hafiz
~gayathri~
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
I'm back from another writer's block. Looks like I can't stand my writing for more than two months, and I can't stand my not writing for more than ten months! I've exploited and exhausted my right to be called a wannabe-writer long back.. now I'm not even a wannabe anymore.. But beautiful composition is like a magnet. You're attracted to it howsoever hard you resist. And every time I come across one, I wonder what went inside the mind of that writer to shower such beautiful words and connect them with the right chord.. Sometimes I wonder, how people who are so abhorrent in real life get to write such splendid lines.. I have always been so much in love with Naipaul to the extent that my passwords were all naipaul for quite a long time until I read an article on hacking and morphing and revenge-pornography and got scared to death, and changed them.. He had given me such pleasurable experiences with his simple yet beautifully crafted words.. Words that just flow like the giggles of a brunette!
"Last week I had my first snow. It came down in little white fluffs; you felt that a gigantic hand had punched a gigantic cotton wool sack open, letting down flurries of cotton shreds. "
And to think that he was just 17 while writing it, makes the taste even sweeter!! But in real life, he was all that I would hate in a man, abusive, misogynistic, womanizer, bigot, and what not. And yet, how could he write so amazingly! Is that his alter ego?!
PS:LS Elections are nearing, and as always I've started having nightmares and sleepless nights. I love as well as hate my obsession with politics!!
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
"Last week I had my first snow. It came down in little white fluffs; you felt that a gigantic hand had punched a gigantic cotton wool sack open, letting down flurries of cotton shreds. "
And to think that he was just 17 while writing it, makes the taste even sweeter!! But in real life, he was all that I would hate in a man, abusive, misogynistic, womanizer, bigot, and what not. And yet, how could he write so amazingly! Is that his alter ego?!
PS:LS Elections are nearing, and as always I've started having nightmares and sleepless nights. I love as well as hate my obsession with politics!!
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Monday, March 4, 2013
Devil's Alternative!
2014 is looming large. In a few months, India would be witnessing yet another general election. Not that it's something to look forward to. But nevertheless, it's a moment most Indians might be waiting for. The never ending spirals of scams and shams are sucking every drop of blood from each of us among the cattle class. Not a day passes without a word of reproach on the govt. CWG, 2G, ISRO-Devas, Land scams, Land acquisition and Tribal abuse, Law and Order problems, Intelligence flaws and Terror strikes, Inflation, and the list goes on..
Not that the result of 2014 would turn out any different from 2009, but i just hope to see a different side of the same coin.
Neither UPA nor NDA has announced their prime ministerial candidate although the choices are as obvious as they could be. One is the incumbent prince of a ruling dynasty and the other is an arrogant autocrat from a 'successful' state. Of course i wouldn't support either of them if i had a choice, both of them are disastrous choices for a democratic India, but unfortunately, i don't have one at the moment.
There's no reason i would support Rahul Gandhi. I dont find him educated or capable enough to rule a country. Not every leader needs to be flamboyant. Lal bahadur shastri was not one. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was not one. But the empathy and the willingness to do the right thing at the right moment is what decides how good a leader is. And i do not have any reason to believe that Rahul Gandhi would be the apt choice when the country is stooping into an imbroglio. Not every leader needs to be scholarly too. India being a nation with a literacy rate of just 74.04% (which implies just reading one's name and writing it out), can't necessarily insist on an above average educated and scholarly people's representative.
A democracy is a state of governance where people have the absolute freedom to choose their rulers and are not just presented a half baked bacon! The faith in India is the faith in Democracy. We overthrew princely rule and paved way to democracy so that the key to governance stays in the hands of the cattle class! By choosing all scions of political families, congress is not only sabotaging that noble concept, but also trampling on the only hope of a better future. Rahul gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot,..the scions of these political dynasties still give that princely look to UPA II. I do not want to support Rahul Gandhi because this is not a healthy trend. If a Sonia gandhi could overthrow Sitaram Kesari at the break of dawn, and if Pranab mukherjee could be forced to be a presidential clown to pave way to Rahul gandhi, then my kids will witness Priyanka's son/daughter become the Prime minister in another 40yrs. This is not what our ancestors fought for. They fought for a pure and noble form of democracy. Lincoln's democracy where the govt is of the people, for the people and by the people.
I would have had a second thought on UPA if someone who climbed up the ladder from the rank and file were chosen. Even with a lot of hatred for PC or Kapil Sibal, i would have been happy about the choice. I would have been happy to project the Harvard educated intellectuals as my country's head. But with the current trend, it's clear to even the worst nitwit that it's the nobility and not the caliber which decides the merit.
Modi, on the other hand, provides us an exact opposite choice. A person who established his credibility from the grass root level. A leader who could get things done without being corrupt, one who could avoid the red tapism which our bureaucracy is so infamous for. Someone who could deliver the promises he has made. Someone who has proved himself to be the people's representative for 3 electoral terms. But will he be a better alternative when we want to safeguard democracy? Haven't we committed one mistake already by electing Indira Gandhi? There might be historians and political commentators who laud her as one of the greatest prime ministers of India. But isn't Emergency and operation Blue Star and forced sterilizations enough examples of her arrogance and autocracy and megalomania? Doesn't Modi give us equally negative vibes?
There was a controversy Markantey Katju recently stirred with his anti Modi remarks and his comparison with Hitler and the concentration camps. I didn't approve of Katju's comments not because it didn't deserve any merit, but because there was a political alignment in his statement which is uncalled for from a person of his position and stature. It did resound a gratitude to his employers, as rightly accused by Arun Jaitley and many other BJP member.
Modi may not be a Hitler. 2002 may not be any different from 1984. But, Modi is definitely not Rajiv, but more of his mom.His actions reflect his narcissism and megalomania. By electing Modi, we may not be necessarily inviting another Emergency because we no more have a single party govt or a 2/3 majority for any govt. But he doesn't appear to be someone who would hesitate using govt agencies like RAW to spy on his political opponents and dissidents. He may be a necessary evil at this hour of tension with Pak and China. But he might become indispensable once peace knocks.
Richard Nixon was people's favorite during Vietnam War. Someone who wouldn't hesitate to pay tribute to his soldiers with a bombing in Cambodia. But the methods he used to hold on to power and to destroy every finger raised against him, the ratfucking and wiretapping, turned out to be the darkest chapter in American History and himself became the lone President of United States of America to have filed his resignation.
Our desperation for a leader or a savior shouldn't plummet us into a deeper abyss. But do we have a choice? Either ways, we are doomed.
PS : This image was Open Magazine's cover picture a month back. I felt it grossly unfair to not give due importance to Rajiv's feat in 1984, so doctored the pic a little so that Rajiv becomes an equally powerful opponent for Modi in Congress Camp! Kejriwal - India's gone to the dogs!!
Khuda Hafiz
~gayathri~
Not that the result of 2014 would turn out any different from 2009, but i just hope to see a different side of the same coin.
Neither UPA nor NDA has announced their prime ministerial candidate although the choices are as obvious as they could be. One is the incumbent prince of a ruling dynasty and the other is an arrogant autocrat from a 'successful' state. Of course i wouldn't support either of them if i had a choice, both of them are disastrous choices for a democratic India, but unfortunately, i don't have one at the moment.
There's no reason i would support Rahul Gandhi. I dont find him educated or capable enough to rule a country. Not every leader needs to be flamboyant. Lal bahadur shastri was not one. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was not one. But the empathy and the willingness to do the right thing at the right moment is what decides how good a leader is. And i do not have any reason to believe that Rahul Gandhi would be the apt choice when the country is stooping into an imbroglio. Not every leader needs to be scholarly too. India being a nation with a literacy rate of just 74.04% (which implies just reading one's name and writing it out), can't necessarily insist on an above average educated and scholarly people's representative.
A democracy is a state of governance where people have the absolute freedom to choose their rulers and are not just presented a half baked bacon! The faith in India is the faith in Democracy. We overthrew princely rule and paved way to democracy so that the key to governance stays in the hands of the cattle class! By choosing all scions of political families, congress is not only sabotaging that noble concept, but also trampling on the only hope of a better future. Rahul gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot,..the scions of these political dynasties still give that princely look to UPA II. I do not want to support Rahul Gandhi because this is not a healthy trend. If a Sonia gandhi could overthrow Sitaram Kesari at the break of dawn, and if Pranab mukherjee could be forced to be a presidential clown to pave way to Rahul gandhi, then my kids will witness Priyanka's son/daughter become the Prime minister in another 40yrs. This is not what our ancestors fought for. They fought for a pure and noble form of democracy. Lincoln's democracy where the govt is of the people, for the people and by the people.
I would have had a second thought on UPA if someone who climbed up the ladder from the rank and file were chosen. Even with a lot of hatred for PC or Kapil Sibal, i would have been happy about the choice. I would have been happy to project the Harvard educated intellectuals as my country's head. But with the current trend, it's clear to even the worst nitwit that it's the nobility and not the caliber which decides the merit.
Modi, on the other hand, provides us an exact opposite choice. A person who established his credibility from the grass root level. A leader who could get things done without being corrupt, one who could avoid the red tapism which our bureaucracy is so infamous for. Someone who could deliver the promises he has made. Someone who has proved himself to be the people's representative for 3 electoral terms. But will he be a better alternative when we want to safeguard democracy? Haven't we committed one mistake already by electing Indira Gandhi? There might be historians and political commentators who laud her as one of the greatest prime ministers of India. But isn't Emergency and operation Blue Star and forced sterilizations enough examples of her arrogance and autocracy and megalomania? Doesn't Modi give us equally negative vibes?
There was a controversy Markantey Katju recently stirred with his anti Modi remarks and his comparison with Hitler and the concentration camps. I didn't approve of Katju's comments not because it didn't deserve any merit, but because there was a political alignment in his statement which is uncalled for from a person of his position and stature. It did resound a gratitude to his employers, as rightly accused by Arun Jaitley and many other BJP member.
Modi may not be a Hitler. 2002 may not be any different from 1984. But, Modi is definitely not Rajiv, but more of his mom.His actions reflect his narcissism and megalomania. By electing Modi, we may not be necessarily inviting another Emergency because we no more have a single party govt or a 2/3 majority for any govt. But he doesn't appear to be someone who would hesitate using govt agencies like RAW to spy on his political opponents and dissidents. He may be a necessary evil at this hour of tension with Pak and China. But he might become indispensable once peace knocks.
Richard Nixon was people's favorite during Vietnam War. Someone who wouldn't hesitate to pay tribute to his soldiers with a bombing in Cambodia. But the methods he used to hold on to power and to destroy every finger raised against him, the ratfucking and wiretapping, turned out to be the darkest chapter in American History and himself became the lone President of United States of America to have filed his resignation.
Our desperation for a leader or a savior shouldn't plummet us into a deeper abyss. But do we have a choice? Either ways, we are doomed.
PS : This image was Open Magazine's cover picture a month back. I felt it grossly unfair to not give due importance to Rajiv's feat in 1984, so doctored the pic a little so that Rajiv becomes an equally powerful opponent for Modi in Congress Camp! Kejriwal - India's gone to the dogs!!
Khuda Hafiz
~gayathri~
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Wonder Woman
Feminism and politics is back with a bang in me. It's been 9 months since my wedding and more than a year since my engagement and 3.5yrs since my job. And every single event had an impact of it's own in me. I had almost stopped reading newspapers, stopped watching and ranting about barkha dutta (Yes, i still watch her programmes due to her charisma, and i still feel frustrated about her being opinionated), stopped worrying about the nation.. It was like i had better things to attend to at the moment than worry over things which i had no influence on.
It was when i started losing sleep over the plight of India that i realized that i am now settled in my life, in my new role. Fitting in the role perfectly, playing it dexterously.
2yrs back, that was before my parents started the groom hunt in all these matrimonial sites and in relatives' wedding, my view of employment was that of time pass. I had a view that when marital responsibilities gets on the head, employment steps out of the caravan, which is not the case anymore.The sole person responsible for such a change is this woman who i always considered stupid. An aunt of mine. And i do not know where i picked that opinion about her from. It might probably be because her parents kept flaunting her schooltime grades to us when we were kids. Months before my engagement, over a small talk, she picked up my frivolous attitude on job. The trail of advices that followed changed my complete mindset. About how job is absolutely necessary to be an independent and dignified woman.
Coming to think of it, she was right. A job renders an individuality to a woman. If i wanted to assert my individuality as a Hillary Rodham and not Hillary Clinton, I had to be self reliant. Wedlock shouldn't be a license to lean on the husband completely.
My job has taught me a lot of things. It has taught me how narrow and how broad people can be. It has shown me different ways of sham and hypocrisy in people. It has shown me how people struggle to get a job. It has shown me the ground realities of life. Of loans and EMIs. Of savings and investments. Of stinginess and extravaganza. It has changed my outlook in ways unimaginable. From religious conservatism to gay marriage. And i am forever grateful to my parents for allowing me to be a woman before marrying me off, when most of my friends got married when they were still girls.
There's this guy in my office who has amazed me in a totally unpleasant way with his chauvinism. He had strong views against working mothers. He never looked at job for a woman as a need for assertion but as a demonstration of greed. His point was that we must respect our culture and tradition, the one which urges the woman to stay indoors to raise the kids and bind the family together. Any deviation from it can be tolerated until she has a kid, after which she should own up the responsibility of the kid.Men are allowed to have passion and commitment for their work ... a woman is allowed that feeling for a man, but not her work.
For some reason, he never revealed all that to me, and instead encouraged me to seek an onsite. I am still unsure if that was genuine or if he was measuring me. But his general views made him a strong contender to be an MCP*. He encouraged every one of his married teammates to make their wives resign. His chauvinism drove him even to ask me if my in-laws don't mind me driving a vehicle!
There was this incident that this guy narrated. One of his friends went to meet a girl, arranged by their parents of course.
Guy : Do you want to work or leave the job after wedding?
Girl : I want to work
Guy : Why?
Girl : Why means? I want to work.
Guy : Explain why you would like to continue working. I am earning enough and i am financially well off. Why do you want to work then?
Girl : I would like to save something to buy my parents an apartment. As you see, i don't have siblings, and i am completely responsible in taking care of my parents.
Guy : Ok. So i would work. You would work. To facilitate both of ours employment and bringing up our kids, my parents would work at home. And the sole benefit of all these would be an apartment for your parents. I do not wish to marry you.
All these were happening among educated and civilised youth in south india. It was totally unbelievable. I specify south india because the south has been comparatively welcoming on the issue of a girl child. At least in Kerala i had not often heard of anyone yearning for a baby boy or bargaining over dowry whereas that is all i hear from the North. Even the most educated people, like this lady i know from the capital through a friend, who did her thesis on women empowerment, needs only grandsons ; she herself has only sons. People fail to link this fetish for boy children with the increased rape incidents in the NCR. People fail to link the dowry system with the obsession for boy children.
There's this movie, Mathrubhumi, a nation without women. It assumes more importance than ever when we consider the criminally and sexually charged atmosphere in Haryana and Delhi. A vast majority of people do not women except for sex. In spite of education and exposure and modernity, a lot of them are still not able to grapple with the fact that women are an asset and not a burden any more. A lot of them like my colleague still do not want an independent and assertive woman who would demolish his supremacy. Why don't they realize, that it's the daughters who light up a home! As the saying goes, a son is a son till he takes a wife, but a daughter is a daughter for the rest of your life.
*Male Chauvinistic Pig.
Khuda Hafiz
~gayathri~
It was when i started losing sleep over the plight of India that i realized that i am now settled in my life, in my new role. Fitting in the role perfectly, playing it dexterously.
2yrs back, that was before my parents started the groom hunt in all these matrimonial sites and in relatives' wedding, my view of employment was that of time pass. I had a view that when marital responsibilities gets on the head, employment steps out of the caravan, which is not the case anymore.The sole person responsible for such a change is this woman who i always considered stupid. An aunt of mine. And i do not know where i picked that opinion about her from. It might probably be because her parents kept flaunting her schooltime grades to us when we were kids. Months before my engagement, over a small talk, she picked up my frivolous attitude on job. The trail of advices that followed changed my complete mindset. About how job is absolutely necessary to be an independent and dignified woman.
Coming to think of it, she was right. A job renders an individuality to a woman. If i wanted to assert my individuality as a Hillary Rodham and not Hillary Clinton, I had to be self reliant. Wedlock shouldn't be a license to lean on the husband completely.
My job has taught me a lot of things. It has taught me how narrow and how broad people can be. It has shown me different ways of sham and hypocrisy in people. It has shown me how people struggle to get a job. It has shown me the ground realities of life. Of loans and EMIs. Of savings and investments. Of stinginess and extravaganza. It has changed my outlook in ways unimaginable. From religious conservatism to gay marriage. And i am forever grateful to my parents for allowing me to be a woman before marrying me off, when most of my friends got married when they were still girls.
There's this guy in my office who has amazed me in a totally unpleasant way with his chauvinism. He had strong views against working mothers. He never looked at job for a woman as a need for assertion but as a demonstration of greed. His point was that we must respect our culture and tradition, the one which urges the woman to stay indoors to raise the kids and bind the family together. Any deviation from it can be tolerated until she has a kid, after which she should own up the responsibility of the kid.Men are allowed to have passion and commitment for their work ... a woman is allowed that feeling for a man, but not her work.
For some reason, he never revealed all that to me, and instead encouraged me to seek an onsite. I am still unsure if that was genuine or if he was measuring me. But his general views made him a strong contender to be an MCP*. He encouraged every one of his married teammates to make their wives resign. His chauvinism drove him even to ask me if my in-laws don't mind me driving a vehicle!
There was this incident that this guy narrated. One of his friends went to meet a girl, arranged by their parents of course.
Guy : Do you want to work or leave the job after wedding?
Girl : I want to work
Guy : Why?
Girl : Why means? I want to work.
Guy : Explain why you would like to continue working. I am earning enough and i am financially well off. Why do you want to work then?
Girl : I would like to save something to buy my parents an apartment. As you see, i don't have siblings, and i am completely responsible in taking care of my parents.
Guy : Ok. So i would work. You would work. To facilitate both of ours employment and bringing up our kids, my parents would work at home. And the sole benefit of all these would be an apartment for your parents. I do not wish to marry you.
All these were happening among educated and civilised youth in south india. It was totally unbelievable. I specify south india because the south has been comparatively welcoming on the issue of a girl child. At least in Kerala i had not often heard of anyone yearning for a baby boy or bargaining over dowry whereas that is all i hear from the North. Even the most educated people, like this lady i know from the capital through a friend, who did her thesis on women empowerment, needs only grandsons ; she herself has only sons. People fail to link this fetish for boy children with the increased rape incidents in the NCR. People fail to link the dowry system with the obsession for boy children.
There's this movie, Mathrubhumi, a nation without women. It assumes more importance than ever when we consider the criminally and sexually charged atmosphere in Haryana and Delhi. A vast majority of people do not women except for sex. In spite of education and exposure and modernity, a lot of them are still not able to grapple with the fact that women are an asset and not a burden any more. A lot of them like my colleague still do not want an independent and assertive woman who would demolish his supremacy. Why don't they realize, that it's the daughters who light up a home! As the saying goes, a son is a son till he takes a wife, but a daughter is a daughter for the rest of your life.
*Male Chauvinistic Pig.
Khuda Hafiz
~gayathri~
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Hello World
It's been a really long time since i visited my space. I had given up hopes on jotting down anything at all. I found in my earlier posts, a spur of immaturity. I found them nothing more than a play of words, a showcase of vocab. My words did have the honesty that revealed my ignorance of the world. Somewhere along the bubble burst. I had to answer the knock of reality. I started growing. Got a job. Got out of home and lived on my own. Got married. Tried to fight certain conventions, but fell down exhausted. Gave up to the age old nose poking tradition of the society. I became a wife, a happy one at it. And i was nothing but that. After running for 7 months, i realized that i had forgotten things which were once my passion and obsession. I stopped singing or listening. I stopped reading or writing. I stopped trying new things at the kitchen {other than the 3 meals a day}. I became a pathetic person but a happy one at it. "Here I am, lost in the light of the moon that comes through my window
Bathed in blue, the walls of my memory divide the thorns from the roses
It's you and the roses"
And here i am. Decidedly to resume scribbling/ranting/puking.
#Yet another insignificant inconsequential post. But as always, content.
Khuda Hafiz
~gayathri~
Bathed in blue, the walls of my memory divide the thorns from the roses
It's you and the roses"
And here i am. Decidedly to resume scribbling/ranting/puking.
#Yet another insignificant inconsequential post. But as always, content.
Khuda Hafiz
~gayathri~
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
:-|
Another vishu went by.
I hate to think that this would perhaps be the last vishu when i can rightfully claim to go home. I seriously hate this male chauvinistic patriarchal society where you're expected to merge into husband's family, attach husband's surname, and give up your individuality totally. What's this? Some Merger acquisition?! I would rather be Hillary Rodham than Hillary Clinton, or even Hillary Rodham Clinton.
I'd lost my hope in malayalam movies and indian politics. I don't want to deliberate on the latter. But seems like it's the renaissance period for the former. Lately, there have been a lot of good movies,most of which i watched during vishu, with quality, variety and freshness.
Pranayam, indian rupee, salt n pepper, chappa kurish, traffic, best actor.. we did have more than just a couple of good movies.. Initial reviews of 22 female kottayam are also compelling. At last, i see a better future for malayalam films, which extends beyond the nonsense heroism of prithviraj!!
PS: i know there's nothing legible in this post. Please discard.
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
I hate to think that this would perhaps be the last vishu when i can rightfully claim to go home. I seriously hate this male chauvinistic patriarchal society where you're expected to merge into husband's family, attach husband's surname, and give up your individuality totally. What's this? Some Merger acquisition?! I would rather be Hillary Rodham than Hillary Clinton, or even Hillary Rodham Clinton.
I'd lost my hope in malayalam movies and indian politics. I don't want to deliberate on the latter. But seems like it's the renaissance period for the former. Lately, there have been a lot of good movies,most of which i watched during vishu, with quality, variety and freshness.
Pranayam, indian rupee, salt n pepper, chappa kurish, traffic, best actor.. we did have more than just a couple of good movies.. Initial reviews of 22 female kottayam are also compelling. At last, i see a better future for malayalam films, which extends beyond the nonsense heroism of prithviraj!!
PS: i know there's nothing legible in this post. Please discard.
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Friday, January 27, 2012
..as dear to me as are the ruddy drops..
June 23, 2011
That's when i last visited and posted something here. 7 months passed by, and wrinkles started appearing on my body making me feel older. I suddenly realized that i have been kicking and alive for the last 24 years without a change in status. Everything but the marital status changed. I became tall. Put on bit by bit and became fat, and then obese, and then normal, and then slim. Became dark, and then normal. Grew hairs, and lost them too. Became irritatingly garrulous and then enigmatically reserved and then curt with candour. I started reading. Stopped reading. Started again.
I kept changing, evolving, a constant metamorphosis. The only thing that never changed was the fact that i was single. Not that i gave a damn, but a nut needs a bolt at some point for the fullness. And that was the moment, to be precise,10.45am, 25th Jan 2011, when i had a band sliding through my ring finger and a butterfly sliding through my food pipe which is flying happily in my stomach now ;). We were complete strangers a month ago, who now felt like we were waiting for each other all this while, who assured each other of lifelong companionship. And that was the moment i believed in destiny, the providence, and that marriages are made in heaven!
PS : If i do visit my blogsville in the next 4 months, readers (if any) can expect something on courtship :D.
PPS: I'm struggling to write which i didn't have to, 2 years back :(. I'm certainly becoming old..
PPPS : I didn't like the way Rushdie was treated in the backdrop of Jaipur Lit Fest. But i don't have the mood to vent my frustration in such matters right now. So, dear religion and controversies, see you some time soon.
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
That's when i last visited and posted something here. 7 months passed by, and wrinkles started appearing on my body making me feel older. I suddenly realized that i have been kicking and alive for the last 24 years without a change in status. Everything but the marital status changed. I became tall. Put on bit by bit and became fat, and then obese, and then normal, and then slim. Became dark, and then normal. Grew hairs, and lost them too. Became irritatingly garrulous and then enigmatically reserved and then curt with candour. I started reading. Stopped reading. Started again.
I kept changing, evolving, a constant metamorphosis. The only thing that never changed was the fact that i was single. Not that i gave a damn, but a nut needs a bolt at some point for the fullness. And that was the moment, to be precise,10.45am, 25th Jan 2011, when i had a band sliding through my ring finger and a butterfly sliding through my food pipe which is flying happily in my stomach now ;). We were complete strangers a month ago, who now felt like we were waiting for each other all this while, who assured each other of lifelong companionship. And that was the moment i believed in destiny, the providence, and that marriages are made in heaven!
PS : If i do visit my blogsville in the next 4 months, readers (if any) can expect something on courtship :D.
PPS: I'm struggling to write which i didn't have to, 2 years back :(. I'm certainly becoming old..
PPPS : I didn't like the way Rushdie was treated in the backdrop of Jaipur Lit Fest. But i don't have the mood to vent my frustration in such matters right now. So, dear religion and controversies, see you some time soon.
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Hope of a better day
What drives me currently is sheer petulance, helplessness and frustration at the state of affairs my country is in. There seems to be no start or end to the saga. And the proportion of sham is bizarrely gigantic. IPL, CWG, 2G, the manipulative Radia tapes, Devas-ISRO deal, Adarsh housing, KG Basin,and what next? Every day we wake up to hear one or the other fiascoes of the government. And the unapologetic arrogant responses from people like Kapil Sibal and the irritatingly naive remarks from respectable people like Dr.Singh.
Who do we approach for succor. The very people who were chosen to protect and nourish us are oozing every drop of life out of us. When tons of food grains were found rotting, i thought it was just Sharad pawar. When Airlines started running in loss, i thought it was just Praful Patel. When IPL scam came, I thought it was just Shashi Tharoor. When Adarsh Scam was out, i thought it was just Ashok Chavan. Or at the most Vilasrao Deshmukh or Sushil Kumar Shinde. And then unfurls the huge list of Kalmadi,Raja,Maran,Kanimozhi,Murli Deora, and people who are yet to be known, or people who aren't known to me.
It's not just the UPA or the central govt. Look at Yeddyurappa. The shameless crook who clings to his throne in the most brazen manner possible. Look at Orissa, where the govt is more than eager to kick or wipe out the helpless tribals to appease POSCO or Vedanta. Look at Maharashtra where thousands of farmers suicide every year, yet all that the government does is manipulate the figures to show that the suicide rates are considerably low.
When Ambani brothers took to street their internal feuds, i thought Mukesh was the guileless one. The better in the beasts. "The Buck stops here tonight" made me an ardent fan of Barkha. The display of magnanimity to his employees during 26/11 made me genuflect at the broadness and integrity of Ratan Tata. But it came as a huge blow that they were nothing but creative creations of manipulative media. The omnipotent, which can make the most hated person out of today's most powerful and admired person with a dexterous turn of the pen, or a skillful tap on the keys.
Arundhati roy's statement that maoists were patriots and kashmiri secessionists were freedom fighters aroused uncontrollable fury in me. I felt like spitting on her face. But now i realise how true she is. At least to a great extent. One loses his faith in the system with such turn of events. If i were in the neglected forests of Orissa or Jharkhand or West Bengal, i would have become a maoist too. If i were cut out from the mainland in some north eastern town, deprived of all that should be rightfully mine,I would have joined NNC-F or ULFA. If i were in Kashmir, clouted and trampled by the govt of India over and over again, i would have turned into a stone pelter too. The only reason why I'm here, in an air conditioned office, tapping on the keys furiously is that i was blessed to be born into a safe and secure family in the relatively safe and secure God's own country. As per Hindu mythology, the quid pro quo of some good conduct in my previous birth.
Now Anna threatens the government of an indefinite fast. I don't compare him with Gandhiji. Neither do i call his, a second freedom struggle. I also agree with the government's argument that yielding to the demands of an individual or an undemocratic organization of individuals like Anna's team would undermine the stature of a democratic institution. But how else did the Blacks get to vote in the US but for Martin Luther King Jr? How else did Women's Suffrage come into existence but for the protests and rallies of millions of women demanding for equal rights? They were all show of power by random and loose collection of individuals, crying and clamoring for their rights at the democratically elected government which was happily comfortable to shut the ears and close the eyes.
I personally do not want Anna to be bigger and nobler than the Government of India. But let Government come up with a more accepted and better version of an anti corruption law than what the civil activists suggest. Arresting or gagging anyone who raises voice against the State is not acceptable. What distinguishes India from China or Myanmar or Pakistan is tolerance. And incidents like Binayak sen and Arundhati roy and Ramlila would only be a blot in the history of the nation. Success is transient and evanescent without healthy criticism. By gagging the intellectuals in the country, the government is setting the foundation to build a nation of insensitive people who have no balls to respond and resist..schmucks who wouldn't give a damn if the country goes to hell or heaven.
I'm still not pessimistic. Even when the 2002 pogrom is unforgettable, Narendra Modi is doing a commendable job in not just developing the state, but also curbing corruption of every form. Even when UPA is falling from one abyss to a deeper one, people like Jairam Ramesh and A.K.Antony still possess the respect and admiration of many. Nithish Kumar is doing more than an appreciable job in wiping out poverty and squalor from Bihar, and making it a state worthy of Indian Pride. As long as we have leaders like them, we can have hope.
I'm still not pessimistic. People are vigilant now. The recent polls, the election turn out being at a record high in some states, reveal that people have still not forgotten that the Government is By the people, and not by a few arrogant hollow headed people who believe that they are from from Mars or Venus and hold no accountability to anyone. I have hope. As Obama says,hope of a better day. Of breeze and sunshine.
Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
-Shawshank Redemption
PS: Baba Ramdev does not deserve a mention here. I personally believe his is just a publicity stunt for some ulterior motive, to be achieved sooner or later.
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Who do we approach for succor. The very people who were chosen to protect and nourish us are oozing every drop of life out of us. When tons of food grains were found rotting, i thought it was just Sharad pawar. When Airlines started running in loss, i thought it was just Praful Patel. When IPL scam came, I thought it was just Shashi Tharoor. When Adarsh Scam was out, i thought it was just Ashok Chavan. Or at the most Vilasrao Deshmukh or Sushil Kumar Shinde. And then unfurls the huge list of Kalmadi,Raja,Maran,Kanimozhi,Murli Deora, and people who are yet to be known, or people who aren't known to me.
It's not just the UPA or the central govt. Look at Yeddyurappa. The shameless crook who clings to his throne in the most brazen manner possible. Look at Orissa, where the govt is more than eager to kick or wipe out the helpless tribals to appease POSCO or Vedanta. Look at Maharashtra where thousands of farmers suicide every year, yet all that the government does is manipulate the figures to show that the suicide rates are considerably low.
When Ambani brothers took to street their internal feuds, i thought Mukesh was the guileless one. The better in the beasts. "The Buck stops here tonight" made me an ardent fan of Barkha. The display of magnanimity to his employees during 26/11 made me genuflect at the broadness and integrity of Ratan Tata. But it came as a huge blow that they were nothing but creative creations of manipulative media. The omnipotent, which can make the most hated person out of today's most powerful and admired person with a dexterous turn of the pen, or a skillful tap on the keys.
Arundhati roy's statement that maoists were patriots and kashmiri secessionists were freedom fighters aroused uncontrollable fury in me. I felt like spitting on her face. But now i realise how true she is. At least to a great extent. One loses his faith in the system with such turn of events. If i were in the neglected forests of Orissa or Jharkhand or West Bengal, i would have become a maoist too. If i were cut out from the mainland in some north eastern town, deprived of all that should be rightfully mine,I would have joined NNC-F or ULFA. If i were in Kashmir, clouted and trampled by the govt of India over and over again, i would have turned into a stone pelter too. The only reason why I'm here, in an air conditioned office, tapping on the keys furiously is that i was blessed to be born into a safe and secure family in the relatively safe and secure God's own country. As per Hindu mythology, the quid pro quo of some good conduct in my previous birth.
Now Anna threatens the government of an indefinite fast. I don't compare him with Gandhiji. Neither do i call his, a second freedom struggle. I also agree with the government's argument that yielding to the demands of an individual or an undemocratic organization of individuals like Anna's team would undermine the stature of a democratic institution. But how else did the Blacks get to vote in the US but for Martin Luther King Jr? How else did Women's Suffrage come into existence but for the protests and rallies of millions of women demanding for equal rights? They were all show of power by random and loose collection of individuals, crying and clamoring for their rights at the democratically elected government which was happily comfortable to shut the ears and close the eyes.
I personally do not want Anna to be bigger and nobler than the Government of India. But let Government come up with a more accepted and better version of an anti corruption law than what the civil activists suggest. Arresting or gagging anyone who raises voice against the State is not acceptable. What distinguishes India from China or Myanmar or Pakistan is tolerance. And incidents like Binayak sen and Arundhati roy and Ramlila would only be a blot in the history of the nation. Success is transient and evanescent without healthy criticism. By gagging the intellectuals in the country, the government is setting the foundation to build a nation of insensitive people who have no balls to respond and resist..schmucks who wouldn't give a damn if the country goes to hell or heaven.
I'm still not pessimistic. Even when the 2002 pogrom is unforgettable, Narendra Modi is doing a commendable job in not just developing the state, but also curbing corruption of every form. Even when UPA is falling from one abyss to a deeper one, people like Jairam Ramesh and A.K.Antony still possess the respect and admiration of many. Nithish Kumar is doing more than an appreciable job in wiping out poverty and squalor from Bihar, and making it a state worthy of Indian Pride. As long as we have leaders like them, we can have hope.
I'm still not pessimistic. People are vigilant now. The recent polls, the election turn out being at a record high in some states, reveal that people have still not forgotten that the Government is By the people, and not by a few arrogant hollow headed people who believe that they are from from Mars or Venus and hold no accountability to anyone. I have hope. As Obama says,hope of a better day. Of breeze and sunshine.
Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
-Shawshank Redemption
PS: Baba Ramdev does not deserve a mention here. I personally believe his is just a publicity stunt for some ulterior motive, to be achieved sooner or later.
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Another of my Blah Blahs
Life is moving on without much of a change. Same old routine. The word 'old' is relative. When i said old, i didn't mean it to date back to 1993 when i started going to school, or even 2005 when i started going to college. Or for that matter, not even 2009, when i joined somewhere to get a payslip every month. It just dates back to 2010 Mar 18, when i placed my feet on Bangalore. The garden city. Well, garden city might be what it is known as, but frankly, I've never been to any gardens in Bangalore in the last one year of toiling. Perhaps, if you could count on a visit to Lal Bhagh 11 years back, then yeah, i will endorse the complement.
So, Mar 18 is the day. The day when we celebrate the first anniversary of our live-in. Bangalore and Me. I love that city pretty much. Not for the normal reasons, of partying, of pubs, of shoppers' shops, of restaurants.. I just love it. Unqualified love. Is that a right usage? I'm unsure. Unqualified love transcends tangible reasoning. Or so is what romantic poets have long succeeded in propagating.
They left open one of the most profitable of all the markets. The anytime reliable theme for movies. Songs. Poems. Stories. Novels. For greeting cards. For Archies. Love is in the air. Like a hydrogen balloon. Sometimes in different flavors too ;)
The higher the balloon rose, the better were the chances of bursting. And by the time the girl is 23 or 24, the Break Up would be in the airs.
Well, I'm about to be 23(of course, the girlish fetish of not admitting that i'm growing old exists in my repertoire too :-D ). But I'm definitely not the protagonist. These are all general observations. Break ups. Deceptions. Heart Breaks. They are all fighting for a little space in the air, to rise higher than 'love balloon' ever was. Girls are all getting married back to back. Guys are all abandoning saloons, to uphold the age-old concept of an unshaven face on heart breaks.
Well, life is so funny. Had Shakespeare been alive, he could have written a Romeo and Juliet part II, by altering the climax of Part I slightly, with both the protagonists marrying someone of their family's choice, there by writing off the frail chance of uniting the feuding families. And in part II, they both take up the familial feud themselves.
Anyway, it was just a random post. Just to keep myself going.
"Every writer has to find a way of going on, of not drying up, of overcoming limitations. "
-A writer's people, Naipaul.
Jobless people may try Maher Zain. Amazing Arab music.
PS: Honorable readers of my shitty post are reprimanded from asking me the intention of this post. Instead, people are requested to look at my magnanimity, which forced me to write a bad post so that we are in a better position to appreciate the better works of others ;). If not for the night, how will we appreciate the day?
PPS : Can someone come up with a replacement for 'Blah Blah' ?
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
So, Mar 18 is the day. The day when we celebrate the first anniversary of our live-in. Bangalore and Me. I love that city pretty much. Not for the normal reasons, of partying, of pubs, of shoppers' shops, of restaurants.. I just love it. Unqualified love. Is that a right usage? I'm unsure. Unqualified love transcends tangible reasoning. Or so is what romantic poets have long succeeded in propagating.
"I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close."
- Pablo NerudaThey left open one of the most profitable of all the markets. The anytime reliable theme for movies. Songs. Poems. Stories. Novels. For greeting cards. For Archies. Love is in the air. Like a hydrogen balloon. Sometimes in different flavors too ;)
The higher the balloon rose, the better were the chances of bursting. And by the time the girl is 23 or 24, the Break Up would be in the airs.
Well, I'm about to be 23(of course, the girlish fetish of not admitting that i'm growing old exists in my repertoire too :-D ). But I'm definitely not the protagonist. These are all general observations. Break ups. Deceptions. Heart Breaks. They are all fighting for a little space in the air, to rise higher than 'love balloon' ever was. Girls are all getting married back to back. Guys are all abandoning saloons, to uphold the age-old concept of an unshaven face on heart breaks.
Well, life is so funny. Had Shakespeare been alive, he could have written a Romeo and Juliet part II, by altering the climax of Part I slightly, with both the protagonists marrying someone of their family's choice, there by writing off the frail chance of uniting the feuding families. And in part II, they both take up the familial feud themselves.
Anyway, it was just a random post. Just to keep myself going.
"Every writer has to find a way of going on, of not drying up, of overcoming limitations. "
-A writer's people, Naipaul.
Jobless people may try Maher Zain. Amazing Arab music.
PS: Honorable readers of my shitty post are reprimanded from asking me the intention of this post. Instead, people are requested to look at my magnanimity, which forced me to write a bad post so that we are in a better position to appreciate the better works of others ;). If not for the night, how will we appreciate the day?
PPS : Can someone come up with a replacement for 'Blah Blah' ?
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Filler!
I was desperately thinking of what to post. A week after 'The Comeback' post, i was still stuck in the red ribbons of a real come back, for, i found the grey cells sucked dry to deliver anything readable at all. I typed a long political post, wherein i was bitching about the shitty condition we were in. With Andimuthu Raja and Ashok Chavan and Yeddyurappa and Kalmadi and the many other s.o.bs taking us on a ride.With so much fodder to chew,it shouldnt have been difficult to spit at least a paragraph. But i found it disgusting. Later I started a long diatribe on how i ended up being anti-congress with its agenda of dynastic succession from Nehru to Indira to Rajiv to Sonia to Rahul. Of how once again,the agenda seemed flawed with the king-in-making hand-picking the most efficient of all of his ministers,Ashok Chavan,Shashi Tharoor and Omar Abdullah.That post appeared trash too. Exhausted with all my failed attempts, i was like a couple who had to drop off without reaching orgasm. I was desperate to spot a write-able topic.I even thought of putting up a lot of thoughts.The passing clouds.
And then,one day, my dear dad wakes me up to say-"Your language is bad. You play with words. You concentrate on conveying message. But not on the structure of the sentences. Not on the basic grammar. Hence you end up having literature and not language. Work on it." .
And I wonder-Do i have to write anything more at all ;)!!
The best critic and critique ever!!
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
And then,one day, my dear dad wakes me up to say-"Your language is bad. You play with words. You concentrate on conveying message. But not on the structure of the sentences. Not on the basic grammar. Hence you end up having literature and not language. Work on it." .
And I wonder-Do i have to write anything more at all ;)!!
The best critic and critique ever!!
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Monday, January 17, 2011
And Here I Come!!
01/17/2011, 23:30
I was thinking.. My blogosphere has been empty for a long time. I open my page one day to see that i've shitted 87 times till date. And wonder what has become of my digestive system. I decide to try shitting again. To dump all that was rotting inside my tummy.. As a first step,i opened the loo. And kept staring at the closet for some time. The poor one which had complacently received all my droppings without a word back and still pampered me with silence whenever i wanted to shit more. Sometimes even twice or thrice a day. It did stink. Still it made me clean by holding whatever i had to shed.
My happiness.
My sorrow.
The frustration.
The bitching.
The flaunt of GK.
The empathy.
And of course, the cliche and trivia.
Had it not been for the untimely sleep on June 9,2008, I wouldn't have discovered a solace for all the digestive issues. Yet I ignored it for a long time. I blamed it on my work. I blamed it on my inaccessibility to net. I blamed it on my mundane life. I blamed it on anything but me. As much as i blame the mirror for it's crack at my reflection, i blamed my circumstances for the negligence i showed to my shit pit. I realize that i was rotting myself as much as it cried for one more bit of crap from me. And i try shitting desperately, only to realize that i've forgotten the art of excretion. The harder i try, the more constipated i felt. And finally it all comes out as a dysentry.. Shoooooo!! :P Hence lies this post. As dirty as it could be. To symbolically announce a comeback!! :)
01/18/2011, 00:36.
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
I was thinking.. My blogosphere has been empty for a long time. I open my page one day to see that i've shitted 87 times till date. And wonder what has become of my digestive system. I decide to try shitting again. To dump all that was rotting inside my tummy.. As a first step,i opened the loo. And kept staring at the closet for some time. The poor one which had complacently received all my droppings without a word back and still pampered me with silence whenever i wanted to shit more. Sometimes even twice or thrice a day. It did stink. Still it made me clean by holding whatever i had to shed.
My happiness.
My sorrow.
The frustration.
The bitching.
The flaunt of GK.
The empathy.
And of course, the cliche and trivia.
Had it not been for the untimely sleep on June 9,2008, I wouldn't have discovered a solace for all the digestive issues. Yet I ignored it for a long time. I blamed it on my work. I blamed it on my inaccessibility to net. I blamed it on my mundane life. I blamed it on anything but me. As much as i blame the mirror for it's crack at my reflection, i blamed my circumstances for the negligence i showed to my shit pit. I realize that i was rotting myself as much as it cried for one more bit of crap from me. And i try shitting desperately, only to realize that i've forgotten the art of excretion. The harder i try, the more constipated i felt. And finally it all comes out as a dysentry.. Shoooooo!! :P Hence lies this post. As dirty as it could be. To symbolically announce a comeback!! :)
01/18/2011, 00:36.
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Saturday, November 13, 2010
The Reality
It was around 19.15. And the bus was screeching to halt near the Mysore bank. My train was at 21.40,that was if IST meant Indian Standard Time and not Indian Stretchable Time.
Gone were the days when I could cover 50km in an hour. Gone were the days of 5th gear and 60kmph. And a safe margin of 2hrs had to be ensured if you were to be prompt somewhere. Vehicles in Bangalore were meant to be driven in 1st or 2nd gear,rest of them were all state of the art fantasies never to be used in real life. There would be a traffic signal in every furlong and if you are lucky enough,the signal turns red just as you approach the junction. You anticipate all that, and you start the journey well in advance only to find all the lucky stars shining in favor of you to turn everything green. Go Green,be that's to save earth or to see heaven! Hence you reach your destination well in advance only to find that you have the time to attend a 10km Marathon and still make it to your train.
This was one such day.And i looked at myself and told,"How lucky you are,now that you can sit and count the stars for the 2.5hrs".
If not for the Rava Dosa at Adigas,which I so ardently crave for the entire week,I may not get down at Mysore Bank and walk upto 2km to the railway station. But yes, the Dosa is worth the hassle.
The way upto the railway station is interesting. I should not perhaps call it interesting if i should be anything but a sadist,but you get the whiff of the real world.The real real world. The prostitutes,who line up near the posts en-route Majestic, under the bridge, in the subway, in the bus stand,wherever you turn to,in the kind of attire that imposes the fancy line,'one cleavage two tits', with their care-taker pimps taking care of which XY talks to them. The street vendors who sell anything ranging from cheap watches to local perfumes. The handicapped beggars who were forcibly handicapped to be marketed for sympathy. The porters who carry more than what they can only to trip every now and then. Kids who wipe the dirt off the hotel rooms at an age when they have to be dirtying their uniforms in the school.The local food stalls which remind you that 'it's the money that inculcates the sense of hygiene'.The people who sleep anywhere on the streets, the platforms,with the stray dogs.The Hijaras who come begging and robbing.
It all reminds me of the blessings i'm bestowed upon.The warm embrace of the family. The luxurious affection of friends. The cron job that refills my account every month end. The hot running water. The 3 meals a day. The books. What not. What more can i ask Him after seeing all these people,who go to any extent to make their ends meet? I may not be loving my job, but i love the fact that i have a job which keeps me away from begging or robbing or stripping to make a living.
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Gone were the days when I could cover 50km in an hour. Gone were the days of 5th gear and 60kmph. And a safe margin of 2hrs had to be ensured if you were to be prompt somewhere. Vehicles in Bangalore were meant to be driven in 1st or 2nd gear,rest of them were all state of the art fantasies never to be used in real life. There would be a traffic signal in every furlong and if you are lucky enough,the signal turns red just as you approach the junction. You anticipate all that, and you start the journey well in advance only to find all the lucky stars shining in favor of you to turn everything green. Go Green,be that's to save earth or to see heaven! Hence you reach your destination well in advance only to find that you have the time to attend a 10km Marathon and still make it to your train.
This was one such day.And i looked at myself and told,"How lucky you are,now that you can sit and count the stars for the 2.5hrs".
If not for the Rava Dosa at Adigas,which I so ardently crave for the entire week,I may not get down at Mysore Bank and walk upto 2km to the railway station. But yes, the Dosa is worth the hassle.
The way upto the railway station is interesting. I should not perhaps call it interesting if i should be anything but a sadist,but you get the whiff of the real world.The real real world. The prostitutes,who line up near the posts en-route Majestic, under the bridge, in the subway, in the bus stand,wherever you turn to,in the kind of attire that imposes the fancy line,'one cleavage two tits', with their care-taker pimps taking care of which XY talks to them. The street vendors who sell anything ranging from cheap watches to local perfumes. The handicapped beggars who were forcibly handicapped to be marketed for sympathy. The porters who carry more than what they can only to trip every now and then. Kids who wipe the dirt off the hotel rooms at an age when they have to be dirtying their uniforms in the school.The local food stalls which remind you that 'it's the money that inculcates the sense of hygiene'.The people who sleep anywhere on the streets, the platforms,with the stray dogs.The Hijaras who come begging and robbing.
It all reminds me of the blessings i'm bestowed upon.The warm embrace of the family. The luxurious affection of friends. The cron job that refills my account every month end. The hot running water. The 3 meals a day. The books. What not. What more can i ask Him after seeing all these people,who go to any extent to make their ends meet? I may not be loving my job, but i love the fact that i have a job which keeps me away from begging or robbing or stripping to make a living.
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Friday, September 17, 2010
Weirdo!!
Play me Tribes of Babel as Baiju does..
Write me erotica with politics and history and sarcasm as Tejpal does..
Sing me Uyire as Hariharan does..
Narrate the winter as, "It came down in little white fluffs; you felt that a gigantic hand had punched a gigantic cotton wool sack open, letting down flurries of cotton shreds.
The streets were not covered,but the tops of the naked branches were white with it- a white that showed more beautiful because the limbs of the trees were in comparison stark black."- Naipaul..
Speak eloquently as Anand Mahindra does..
Talk endlessly about anything,
about anything under the sun including the sun,
about VVV-Veda Vatsyayana Voltaire,
about Freud and Pamuk,
about Balamurali and Niladri Kumar,
about Sainath and Kiran Bedi,
about the Brits and the Mughals..
Do any of these..and gimme the orgasmic pleasure..the goosebumps..
Others - are just ordinary!!
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Write me erotica with politics and history and sarcasm as Tejpal does..
Sing me Uyire as Hariharan does..
Narrate the winter as, "It came down in little white fluffs; you felt that a gigantic hand had punched a gigantic cotton wool sack open, letting down flurries of cotton shreds.
The streets were not covered,but the tops of the naked branches were white with it- a white that showed more beautiful because the limbs of the trees were in comparison stark black."- Naipaul..
Speak eloquently as Anand Mahindra does..
Talk endlessly about anything,
about anything under the sun including the sun,
about VVV-Veda Vatsyayana Voltaire,
about Freud and Pamuk,
about Balamurali and Niladri Kumar,
about Sainath and Kiran Bedi,
about the Brits and the Mughals..
Do any of these..and gimme the orgasmic pleasure..the goosebumps..
Others - are just ordinary!!
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Thursday, September 9, 2010
How long will we remain silent?
How long can we feign ignorance and show our backs to them? Don't they have equal rights to at least food as we do??
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Jai Hind *Choking with frustration and petulance*!!
Down the lane of history,at a midnight,63yrs back,not an Indian might have slept a wink.The moment his long-awaited,long-struggled-for dream comes true would not have allowed him to drown in the oblivion of slumber. To have a leader among his peers who he fought the Victorians shoulders at par with ,take Oath of Allegiance to a state which just took birth,would beyond doubt have given him goosebumps. The hope of a better tomorrow without having to be the foot-board of the White would have given him solace. The prospect of becoming an inevitable part of the system of governance in his country would have given him pride. More than all,the accomplishment of his swaraj andolan would have made him feel triumphant.
We witnessed 63 Independence days. Every year we witnessed a new resolution,a new promise,a better tomorrow.
We travelled a long way. Like a bird without its wings flanking both the sides were we,without the erstwhile East and West Pakistan. The communal riots that followed partitioning independence was not just traumatic,but left us amazingly resilient. We became a republic. Developed ourselves into the largest democracy in the world where we are governed by ourselves! We secured a strong framework of secularism which allowed a Muslim President and Hindu Prime Minister and Christian Defense Minister shoulder the responsibilities without communal feelings. We guilelessly practiced non-intervention,yet duly showing the empathy to the needy,thus helping the East Pak transform into Bangladesh and the Lankans get rid of their villain although loosing a PM as a scapegoat!
Now we are surging ahead in our way to be a Global Power,which no international cop can ignore,rightly as Nostradamus predicted. Yet,have we accomplished what we ought to have when compared to the other colonies of the 50s and 60s like China and Singapore. Are we any close to what Japan is,taking into account the crushing dilapidation that it endured.
We still have dirty roads,filthy streets,poverty and squalor,corruption and nepotism. Inefficient roads and under-productive electric grids. We have over a 110crore population,which would have made us claim ourselves to be the greatest exporter of human resource,yet making a Yankee call us a chop shop. We have Nobel laureates who brought us back nothing. We have great IITians and IIMians who left nothing but husk in pursuit of money and power abroad. We still uphold secularism,only to include a new clause of caste in the coming census. We still uphold equality only to widen the range of reservations in the educational instis. Have we accomplished what we aimed at??
In the backdrop of 63rd Independence Day and the hangover that Mr.Kelley's feedback on his visit to India left on me,i would like to post a conversation with a friend. Consider it an interview of an aspirant civil servant Y by a wannabe journalist X.Consider it the frustration and anxiety of the newer generation who would soon be given the wheel of administration. Consider it any shit,but give it a thought. Isn't the glass more than half empty??
X:
To begin with,i would like to quote the travelogue of a westerner who has travelled across the globe and happened to sweep across India twice. In that he criticizes mercilessly,though ostensibly with a pinch of bonhomie,dirt and filth that India bears. The inefficient rail-road services,the rickety buses,the pollution,the useless electric grids which consumes more electricity than it produces,.and more than all,the don't care attitude of the Indians.
He also gives innuendos on the natural and intellectual endowments that India has,yet rendered useless.The many Nobel laureates who brought back nothing.
As an aspirant civil servant,tell me,what are your ideas to tackle these issues. I know nothing can be solved overnight. But in your reign you at least ought to take one small step!
Y:
The criticism is acknowledged. An all India solution doesn't exist. It doesn't because of the proverbial diversity. I can take one or two examples. If i were to be handed the superintendence of a district in Bihar, i will make it a point to study the ground realities. In this hypothetical case, i am most likely to encounter a lawless, illiterate, reactionary, sensitive and under developed area.
1. Get in touch with the religious leaders, the local political personalities, the powerful landlords and other powerful people. A personal rapport can do lot more than a formal contact. Get to know the local dynamics. Who can be trusted and who cannot be. What are their concerns and commitments. What are they capable of doing. Who can be played against whom.
2. Use of media to force the hands of bureaucrats and people alike. Like making media report a khap panchayat's brutality which will force political forces to compel district magistrate to take strong action. Meanwhile the collector remains a helpless executor of the will of political class.
3. Develop a small army of loyal bureaucrats.
4. Close coordination with police. Now, all these form the prerequisite build up of forces that are necessary. The steps are to follow.
Steps.
1. Literacy. Here, massive investments from state and union governments cannot be expected. Nothing will change that way. Tweak local support and sentiments. Manage support from the local landlord by naming a new adult coaching centre in memory of his late mother or father. Make the religious and political busy bodies commit themselves for campaigning and for putting their personal weight behind the project. The collector should be able to quote Mark and Mathew while joining the Christians for Sunday mass and on being asked to say a few words by the vicar of the parish. He should be able to help some from his district to be on the government list of people who are sponsored for annual pilgrimage to mecca. He can derive huge local support from all these and perhaps make use of it, in making poor parents send their wards. He can talk to children in the local school and make them aware of a world beyond the narrow confines of a village. Let him tell them about the super 30, the coaching to become a chartered accountant , a lawyer , a journalist. Let the children come forward for college education. He can write letters of recommendation, can help them choose colleges after exams, help them get passports quickly for studies abroad. It takes just one generation of successful students to change situation. This is about studies.
2. Law and order. Have the communal forces under control. Introduce novel schemes like community policing. Make people aware of mechanism for quick disposal of cases.ADMINISTRATION- Establish computerization of district courts and usage of novel communication methods. . Call centre for registering complaints and sms to know status of an application. Tie up with postal department for issual of government certificates and approvals quickly to the needy. Popularization of right to information act. Usage of civil service clout to get government schemes in his district. For example, a request to include his district among those where unique identity project will be experimented. A speedy disposal of requests for loan waiver guaranteed by union government.
To improve infrastructure nobody has to unleash anything revolutionary. Ensure that quality is maintained while building roads under prime minister's rural roads programme. Perhaps a little bit of activism will help. It will be beneficial if the collector can successfully vouch for world bank funds coming in state's way. But, the horrible infrastructure is not the result of inactivity but that of gross impropriety and corruption. Then an active collector can do a lot of things. Banks are ordered to open rural branches and provide loans for agriculture and education. Telecom operators are ordered to maintain sufficient cell phone towers and maintenance facilities. Both never do that. They have redundant branches in Delhi and useless collection of towers in new mumbai. All that has to be done is enforce the regulation. Make them do what they are obliged to.
If civil servants can remain uncorrupted, all these and more are nothing but routine jobs.the men and women who have managed to traverse the corridors of LBSNAA are capable of pulling off any feat. It is a sad reality that 50 batches of amazing talent have gone waste.
X:
I understand and acknowledge. But taking into account the beastly population which still ardently practice honor killing and female infanticide,I'm afraid if the implementation of the suggestions is light years ahead!
Y:
A huge leap forward might be impractical.but a lot of that is down to earth and practical. Look at kerala. It is possible to convert one district in north India into something that has features of one in kerala. Kerala is not Singapore. Need not be. Do what Bhaskaran Nair, Jacob Thomas, Padmakumar, Babupaul did in kerala. They didn't make it like helsinki. But, they implemented national education programme, got some districts cent percent literate, reduced chances of communal disharmony. Helped achieve targets of medical coverage, universalised vaccination programmes. Et al. What we see as the human resource rich kerala is the baby of giants of men like them. Would you dare deny the stupendous success that is kerala? Kerala is eons away from being singapore. But, kerala is possible. And if kerala can be replicated in 200 districts in the north, we will enter a whole new era.
If the mental asylum that was kerala can boast of progressiveness in human welfare, distance of the order of astronomical units can be scaled.
X:
"Use of media to force the hands of bureaucrats and people alike. Like making media report a khap panchayat's brutality which will force political forces to compel district magistrate to take strong action. Meanwhile the collector remains a helpless executor of the will of political class."
This was your point. How far is media capable of ensuring law and order,say in today's case,curbing the honor killing?
Y:
We have laws that addresses such needs of criminal justice system. Implementation is found lacking. A police superintendent or district collector has his hands tied because political masters want to cater to demands of such systems and people for tactical gains. However, this tacit support has to remain outside the purview of cosmopolitan middle class, judiciary and concerned authorities at central level. They cannot support these measurers legally. They thrive on lack of awareness and lack of spread of information. If such news hit national media, they can't go against national human rights commission, the supreme court or a directive from union home ministry. They will the district authorities to take action and action they take against the accused can't be subverted because of the vigilance of media. They won't be able to sack the district authorities. They can't stop supreme court from de recognizing those who bend the laws for narrow gains. It will act as a watch dog. For in a parliamentary democracy with an independent judiciary, public opinion is essential for survival of political class.
** The conversation continues,veers,and gets totally attenuated. But the fire is still alive,ready to be flared up. What shall we do about it? Can we hope of a better India while we are alive or is that left for our great-grand children to witness??
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
We witnessed 63 Independence days. Every year we witnessed a new resolution,a new promise,a better tomorrow.
We travelled a long way. Like a bird without its wings flanking both the sides were we,without the erstwhile East and West Pakistan. The communal riots that followed partitioning independence was not just traumatic,but left us amazingly resilient. We became a republic. Developed ourselves into the largest democracy in the world where we are governed by ourselves! We secured a strong framework of secularism which allowed a Muslim President and Hindu Prime Minister and Christian Defense Minister shoulder the responsibilities without communal feelings. We guilelessly practiced non-intervention,yet duly showing the empathy to the needy,thus helping the East Pak transform into Bangladesh and the Lankans get rid of their villain although loosing a PM as a scapegoat!
Now we are surging ahead in our way to be a Global Power,which no international cop can ignore,rightly as Nostradamus predicted. Yet,have we accomplished what we ought to have when compared to the other colonies of the 50s and 60s like China and Singapore. Are we any close to what Japan is,taking into account the crushing dilapidation that it endured.
We still have dirty roads,filthy streets,poverty and squalor,corruption and nepotism. Inefficient roads and under-productive electric grids. We have over a 110crore population,which would have made us claim ourselves to be the greatest exporter of human resource,yet making a Yankee call us a chop shop. We have Nobel laureates who brought us back nothing. We have great IITians and IIMians who left nothing but husk in pursuit of money and power abroad. We still uphold secularism,only to include a new clause of caste in the coming census. We still uphold equality only to widen the range of reservations in the educational instis. Have we accomplished what we aimed at??
In the backdrop of 63rd Independence Day and the hangover that Mr.Kelley's feedback on his visit to India left on me,i would like to post a conversation with a friend. Consider it an interview of an aspirant civil servant Y by a wannabe journalist X.Consider it the frustration and anxiety of the newer generation who would soon be given the wheel of administration. Consider it any shit,but give it a thought. Isn't the glass more than half empty??
X:
To begin with,i would like to quote the travelogue of a westerner who has travelled across the globe and happened to sweep across India twice. In that he criticizes mercilessly,though ostensibly with a pinch of bonhomie,dirt and filth that India bears. The inefficient rail-road services,the rickety buses,the pollution,the useless electric grids which consumes more electricity than it produces,.and more than all,the don't care attitude of the Indians.
He also gives innuendos on the natural and intellectual endowments that India has,yet rendered useless.The many Nobel laureates who brought back nothing.
As an aspirant civil servant,tell me,what are your ideas to tackle these issues. I know nothing can be solved overnight. But in your reign you at least ought to take one small step!
Y:
The criticism is acknowledged. An all India solution doesn't exist. It doesn't because of the proverbial diversity. I can take one or two examples. If i were to be handed the superintendence of a district in Bihar, i will make it a point to study the ground realities. In this hypothetical case, i am most likely to encounter a lawless, illiterate, reactionary, sensitive and under developed area.
1. Get in touch with the religious leaders, the local political personalities, the powerful landlords and other powerful people. A personal rapport can do lot more than a formal contact. Get to know the local dynamics. Who can be trusted and who cannot be. What are their concerns and commitments. What are they capable of doing. Who can be played against whom.
2. Use of media to force the hands of bureaucrats and people alike. Like making media report a khap panchayat's brutality which will force political forces to compel district magistrate to take strong action. Meanwhile the collector remains a helpless executor of the will of political class.
3. Develop a small army of loyal bureaucrats.
4. Close coordination with police. Now, all these form the prerequisite build up of forces that are necessary. The steps are to follow.
Steps.
1. Literacy. Here, massive investments from state and union governments cannot be expected. Nothing will change that way. Tweak local support and sentiments. Manage support from the local landlord by naming a new adult coaching centre in memory of his late mother or father. Make the religious and political busy bodies commit themselves for campaigning and for putting their personal weight behind the project. The collector should be able to quote Mark and Mathew while joining the Christians for Sunday mass and on being asked to say a few words by the vicar of the parish. He should be able to help some from his district to be on the government list of people who are sponsored for annual pilgrimage to mecca. He can derive huge local support from all these and perhaps make use of it, in making poor parents send their wards. He can talk to children in the local school and make them aware of a world beyond the narrow confines of a village. Let him tell them about the super 30, the coaching to become a chartered accountant , a lawyer , a journalist. Let the children come forward for college education. He can write letters of recommendation, can help them choose colleges after exams, help them get passports quickly for studies abroad. It takes just one generation of successful students to change situation. This is about studies.
2. Law and order. Have the communal forces under control. Introduce novel schemes like community policing. Make people aware of mechanism for quick disposal of cases.ADMINISTRATION- Establish computerization of district courts and usage of novel communication methods. . Call centre for registering complaints and sms to know status of an application. Tie up with postal department for issual of government certificates and approvals quickly to the needy. Popularization of right to information act. Usage of civil service clout to get government schemes in his district. For example, a request to include his district among those where unique identity project will be experimented. A speedy disposal of requests for loan waiver guaranteed by union government.
To improve infrastructure nobody has to unleash anything revolutionary. Ensure that quality is maintained while building roads under prime minister's rural roads programme. Perhaps a little bit of activism will help. It will be beneficial if the collector can successfully vouch for world bank funds coming in state's way. But, the horrible infrastructure is not the result of inactivity but that of gross impropriety and corruption. Then an active collector can do a lot of things. Banks are ordered to open rural branches and provide loans for agriculture and education. Telecom operators are ordered to maintain sufficient cell phone towers and maintenance facilities. Both never do that. They have redundant branches in Delhi and useless collection of towers in new mumbai. All that has to be done is enforce the regulation. Make them do what they are obliged to.
If civil servants can remain uncorrupted, all these and more are nothing but routine jobs.the men and women who have managed to traverse the corridors of LBSNAA are capable of pulling off any feat. It is a sad reality that 50 batches of amazing talent have gone waste.
X:
I understand and acknowledge. But taking into account the beastly population which still ardently practice honor killing and female infanticide,I'm afraid if the implementation of the suggestions is light years ahead!
Y:
A huge leap forward might be impractical.but a lot of that is down to earth and practical. Look at kerala. It is possible to convert one district in north India into something that has features of one in kerala. Kerala is not Singapore. Need not be. Do what Bhaskaran Nair, Jacob Thomas, Padmakumar, Babupaul did in kerala. They didn't make it like helsinki. But, they implemented national education programme, got some districts cent percent literate, reduced chances of communal disharmony. Helped achieve targets of medical coverage, universalised vaccination programmes. Et al. What we see as the human resource rich kerala is the baby of giants of men like them. Would you dare deny the stupendous success that is kerala? Kerala is eons away from being singapore. But, kerala is possible. And if kerala can be replicated in 200 districts in the north, we will enter a whole new era.
If the mental asylum that was kerala can boast of progressiveness in human welfare, distance of the order of astronomical units can be scaled.
X:
"Use of media to force the hands of bureaucrats and people alike. Like making media report a khap panchayat's brutality which will force political forces to compel district magistrate to take strong action. Meanwhile the collector remains a helpless executor of the will of political class."
This was your point. How far is media capable of ensuring law and order,say in today's case,curbing the honor killing?
Y:
We have laws that addresses such needs of criminal justice system. Implementation is found lacking. A police superintendent or district collector has his hands tied because political masters want to cater to demands of such systems and people for tactical gains. However, this tacit support has to remain outside the purview of cosmopolitan middle class, judiciary and concerned authorities at central level. They cannot support these measurers legally. They thrive on lack of awareness and lack of spread of information. If such news hit national media, they can't go against national human rights commission, the supreme court or a directive from union home ministry. They will the district authorities to take action and action they take against the accused can't be subverted because of the vigilance of media. They won't be able to sack the district authorities. They can't stop supreme court from de recognizing those who bend the laws for narrow gains. It will act as a watch dog. For in a parliamentary democracy with an independent judiciary, public opinion is essential for survival of political class.
** The conversation continues,veers,and gets totally attenuated. But the fire is still alive,ready to be flared up. What shall we do about it? Can we hope of a better India while we are alive or is that left for our great-grand children to witness??
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Sunday, August 1, 2010
A continuation..
Reflections on India by Sean Paul Kelley.. It was pretty much of an interesting read in ZB's.. A westerner ranting and raving on how bad India is.. How vile Indians are.. Well,i could do nothing but agree with 95% of what he told.. Of roads,of electric grids,of dirt,of filth,of bureaucracy,of corruption.. The rest 5% accounts to the exaggeration.. The long queue in the railway station which made him wait for 30min was nothing but an overstatement.. Pro'ly he found no one to teach him how to book tickets online.. Well,poor soul,.had one heck of a hardship coming to India..
It reminded me of Slumdog Millionare which sweeped the academy awards.. We then berated on how manipulative and critical westerners are.. We still do that.. But jokes apart,is there anything we can do about it? Is there anything we can contribute by staying back to work in India and not oozing out its resources leaving the husk to pursue financial heights?
We rave of brain drain. But why do we have that? It's true that India still cannot afford the invaluable Indian brains.. But apart from that,there's definitely one thing India can provide,.recognition.. When we still have appointments based on caste and creed in this 21st century,and deny the most eligible candidates based on anachronisms,how can we justify ourselves in blaming the non-resident Indians,in being non-resident??
Frankly speaking, I'm frustrated,.and at the same time confused.. Which is the way ahead? Is there any way we can contribute to a better India? Is there any way we can shape an India which is beyond the dirty reproach of the westerners?
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
It reminded me of Slumdog Millionare which sweeped the academy awards.. We then berated on how manipulative and critical westerners are.. We still do that.. But jokes apart,is there anything we can do about it? Is there anything we can contribute by staying back to work in India and not oozing out its resources leaving the husk to pursue financial heights?
We rave of brain drain. But why do we have that? It's true that India still cannot afford the invaluable Indian brains.. But apart from that,there's definitely one thing India can provide,.recognition.. When we still have appointments based on caste and creed in this 21st century,and deny the most eligible candidates based on anachronisms,how can we justify ourselves in blaming the non-resident Indians,in being non-resident??
Frankly speaking, I'm frustrated,.and at the same time confused.. Which is the way ahead? Is there any way we can contribute to a better India? Is there any way we can shape an India which is beyond the dirty reproach of the westerners?
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The T!
I'd always wanted to be born a boy.. At least,being born a girl in India,that too Kerala,that too in a pretty much orthodox family,i'd more than once wished if only i were born a boy! (I used 'born a boy' only as a gag to those pricks who would come up with suggestions on Gender Reassignment Surgery!)..
Every time i found a boy having a nightout with friends,or a trip to Goa/Pondi or a bike tour, i whined on why the hell was i born a girl,.why couldn't my parents be one of those supporting a female infanticide(of course,that was a bit exaggerated!)..Another of those endless things i missed was a booze party,.of course not to booze myself,but to see how this liquid helped people overcome all the inhibitions,to see how people transform into someone totally strange,to some kind of a blissful existence at least for a lull!,.I'd even asked my dad once to find me a groom who would drink,and believe me when i say that he gave me one such sarcasm filled guffaw which i would never forget in a lifetime!! :D
But now,I'm highly grateful to God that i was born a girl in it's fullest sense and not as someone who can be termed neither or either!!Everytime i walk around a busy street in Blore,i get to meet the heavily built,yet deceivingly beautiful,people,who,even though they wish to be called so,are not women..People,who have not a definite gender,or a clear identity or existence.. People who are looked upon with utter aversion by every goddamn person.. People who wouldn't be hired,neither can they be self employed,thus being rendered helpless and left to choose among begging/looting for their existence.. People who wouldn't be admitted in any school or college,thus contributing themselves to the illiterate shits of India who hamper the growth of India into a super-power..
I'm highly grateful to God that i was born with a proper XX,due to which my parents are not a tad ashamed to bring me up and not abandon me in my infancy!I'm grateful to God that i have a home,and a loving family,and a proper education which didn't eventually leave me jobless,and not fend for myself when i didn't know the chromosomal difference between a male and a female!
Without an identity,they have no say in running the democratic process.. Without a vote,none of the political mavericks are interested in their issues,not that they are interested in ours..
Till date i'm not sure if LGB is a reality or fantasy like in dostana as i've never once come across one of the kind.. But not in the case of 'T'.. If i were to say,transgenders definitely need a better consideration than making them part of the LGBT resolution... Their problem is not one of dignity for their 'needs',but of existence,identity and survival..And an amendment in an article wouldn't help them be a part of our nation,.the attitude of the society of which you and i are a part,should change.. And it's high time we stop reservations based on cast,creed or religion,but devote in giving a helping hand to those who are in real need of it!
A nation remains handicapped so long as it ignores a,howsoever diminutive,part of it's citizens.. And so long as it ignores their needs,it's growth will only be a fallacy..
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Every time i found a boy having a nightout with friends,or a trip to Goa/Pondi or a bike tour, i whined on why the hell was i born a girl,.why couldn't my parents be one of those supporting a female infanticide(of course,that was a bit exaggerated!)..Another of those endless things i missed was a booze party,.of course not to booze myself,but to see how this liquid helped people overcome all the inhibitions,to see how people transform into someone totally strange,to some kind of a blissful existence at least for a lull!,.I'd even asked my dad once to find me a groom who would drink,and believe me when i say that he gave me one such sarcasm filled guffaw which i would never forget in a lifetime!! :D
But now,I'm highly grateful to God that i was born a girl in it's fullest sense and not as someone who can be termed neither or either!!Everytime i walk around a busy street in Blore,i get to meet the heavily built,yet deceivingly beautiful,people,who,even though they wish to be called so,are not women..People,who have not a definite gender,or a clear identity or existence.. People who are looked upon with utter aversion by every goddamn person.. People who wouldn't be hired,neither can they be self employed,thus being rendered helpless and left to choose among begging/looting for their existence.. People who wouldn't be admitted in any school or college,thus contributing themselves to the illiterate shits of India who hamper the growth of India into a super-power..
I'm highly grateful to God that i was born with a proper XX,due to which my parents are not a tad ashamed to bring me up and not abandon me in my infancy!I'm grateful to God that i have a home,and a loving family,and a proper education which didn't eventually leave me jobless,and not fend for myself when i didn't know the chromosomal difference between a male and a female!
Without an identity,they have no say in running the democratic process.. Without a vote,none of the political mavericks are interested in their issues,not that they are interested in ours..
Till date i'm not sure if LGB is a reality or fantasy like in dostana as i've never once come across one of the kind.. But not in the case of 'T'.. If i were to say,transgenders definitely need a better consideration than making them part of the LGBT resolution... Their problem is not one of dignity for their 'needs',but of existence,identity and survival..And an amendment in an article wouldn't help them be a part of our nation,.the attitude of the society of which you and i are a part,should change.. And it's high time we stop reservations based on cast,creed or religion,but devote in giving a helping hand to those who are in real need of it!
A nation remains handicapped so long as it ignores a,howsoever diminutive,part of it's citizens.. And so long as it ignores their needs,it's growth will only be a fallacy..
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Sunday, July 18, 2010
A Chronicle of Fantasies..
Fantasy stories have never been my choice.. Not when i was a kid,not when i grew up.. It was never tom n jerry or scoobee doo which entertained me when i was a kid,but the *dishyum dishyum* movies which i watched with my grandpa.. It was not the handsome-prince-crosses-seven-seas-for-the-princess stories that mom narrated,but mahabharata and ramayana.. Hence i was honed,to turn my back to fantasies..
When i was in school,there was a girl who told me of a lady who was turning tides throughout the globe,.and that was J.K.Rowling..She wrote one book,then the other,then another,..it went on until she became one of the biggest aristocrats in the world..What i could never understand was how/why people enjoyed such fantasies which didn't quite appeal to their sanity.. The 2hrs i spent in Hyd IMAX watching HP5,the one n only HP which i had to watch,was a torture to me,for,i rotated my head 360 degrees only to find everyone gaping with awe at the movie,the script,and the 3D!!
J.R.R.Tolkien was in no way inferior to Rowling,for he made every single guy speak in laudative tone about his Lord of the Rings.. If HP suffered from the wrath of muffling of the sumptousness when compared to the book,LOTR was bloody brilliant.. The 12hours that guys stayed hooked to the pc just to watch all the 3 movies at a stretch was inconcievable.
Next in the list was Stephnie Mayer,who presented every girl with the dreams of a vampire-sweetheart who could rescue them at the need of the hour.. I hoped she would stop with Twilight,but again,she was in no way different..
I'm unsure if i had missed any other mavericks who aced the field of imagination..But what stayed and still stays beyond my realm of understanding is,how people manage to enjoy the books/movies which they were sure to be challenging their lucidity.. Not that movies like transformers were believable.. But somehow,it was kind of watchable stuffs unlike the handsome-vampire-falls-in-love kinda storyline..
There would still be authors like Rowling who would keep questioning the acumen of a layman.. And there would still be people like me resisting them.. But an author becomes a prodigy,when he challenges the established norms of human imagination and transcends into weird realms.. Hats off to all those guys for their imaginative and narrative abilities!!!
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
When i was in school,there was a girl who told me of a lady who was turning tides throughout the globe,.and that was J.K.Rowling..She wrote one book,then the other,then another,..it went on until she became one of the biggest aristocrats in the world..What i could never understand was how/why people enjoyed such fantasies which didn't quite appeal to their sanity.. The 2hrs i spent in Hyd IMAX watching HP5,the one n only HP which i had to watch,was a torture to me,for,i rotated my head 360 degrees only to find everyone gaping with awe at the movie,the script,and the 3D!!
J.R.R.Tolkien was in no way inferior to Rowling,for he made every single guy speak in laudative tone about his Lord of the Rings.. If HP suffered from the wrath of muffling of the sumptousness when compared to the book,LOTR was bloody brilliant.. The 12hours that guys stayed hooked to the pc just to watch all the 3 movies at a stretch was inconcievable.
Next in the list was Stephnie Mayer,who presented every girl with the dreams of a vampire-sweetheart who could rescue them at the need of the hour.. I hoped she would stop with Twilight,but again,she was in no way different..
I'm unsure if i had missed any other mavericks who aced the field of imagination..But what stayed and still stays beyond my realm of understanding is,how people manage to enjoy the books/movies which they were sure to be challenging their lucidity.. Not that movies like transformers were believable.. But somehow,it was kind of watchable stuffs unlike the handsome-vampire-falls-in-love kinda storyline..
There would still be authors like Rowling who would keep questioning the acumen of a layman.. And there would still be people like me resisting them.. But an author becomes a prodigy,when he challenges the established norms of human imagination and transcends into weird realms.. Hats off to all those guys for their imaginative and narrative abilities!!!
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The Black Book
It has been about 2 months since i started reading this book.. Presented by a friend on my birthday,the reading crawls at snail's pace.. Coincidentally though,reading as well as blogging have almost come to a standstill ever since i turned 22.. Not that I'd ever been a good writer..but at least i was good at jotting down random thoughts..which is what i struggle at,now..
Anyhow,back to Black..
After My Name is Red,I'd this huge reverence to Orhan Pamuk,which was why my dear friend took all the pains of hunting down this book which was then not to be found anywhere in Bangalore.If My Name Is Red was one of those books which i enjoyed reading,which i hated putting down, The Black Book thoroughly decieved me all time.. Although the book was famous/infamous for its complexity,I'd a subdued impression of the extent of intricacy any book could hold..But it was far beyond my expectations..
The story is all about the ongoing search of Galip for his wife Ruya,who on a fine day,has disappeared,for her ex-husband or for Celal,a popular newspaper journalist who also happens to be her step-brother..Although Ruya leaves an obscure parting note,which lets out no reason on her adieu,Galip sets on an investigation primarily out of his uncontrollable and scarcely returned love,and partly due to his unabated doubt on the fidelity of his wife,rather any house-wife,.which glints in some areas like,
"In my view,an intelligent husband makes a point of forgetting every man who sends his regards to his wife. Because-well,just in case. Especially if the woman in question is a housewife. If you rule out relatives and shopkeepers,that luckless creature we call the housewife is unlikely afterall to meet any man other than her own tedious husband. So if a gentleman does take the trouble to send her his regards,it will make her think,and she has plenty of time for that too.."
As his investigation progresses,he finds that Celal has disappeared too.. And he dares to be the imposture of Celal,occupying his home,wearing his clothes,answering his phone calls,even writing his columns,only to transform almost completely into an ever envied identity..
There were occasions when the literary ace of Pamuk left me awestruck as in,
"When catastrophe strikes,there can be no happier way of facing death. So let me cry out in anguish to a distant love:My darling,my beauty,my long suffering sweet,the disaster is fast approaching;so come to me,come to me now;wherever you happen to be at this moment- a smoke filled office,a messy blue bedroom,an onion scented kitchen in a house steaming with laundry-Know that the time has come,so come to me;let us draw the curtains against the disaster pressing upon us;as darkness encroaches,let us lock ourselves in a last embrace and silently await the hour of our death."
I'm just half way through.. Although it's not an easy read,it gives a pleasure beyond words to decipher the intricacies hidden in the beautifully weaved words of Pamuk. Salutes to the literary genius!!
Khuda Hafiz
~Gayathri~
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
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