If I had to choose a word for 2017, it’d have to be ‘accept’. This year came with an unyielding ferocity that made us all give in to its will.
Despite such global outcry, look at us at the end of 2017 having accepted Donald Trump as the President of the United States of America.
Say what you may – here in on our island nation, Fiji First is just about to finish it’s first term as ruling party.
As the workers of the Airport Terminal Services sit outside in a strike Continue reading
“Ji, papa.”
Insert pitaji, daddy, baba, abbu, bauji, appa – whatever your term of reference. “Yes, father” is a fundamental code of conformity drilled to desi children as their unquestionable submission to the patriarchal head of the household. Right from the Vedic era some 1600 BCE, desi parents have been revered as Gods living on this planet demanding a worship-like devotion from their offsprings.
My adolescent years could be divided into episodes of me and Suruj battling Continue reading
Recently at the Sydney Airport, I swung by the Clinique counter in Duty Free to pick up my usual lip colour before flight. A lovely lady in a lab coat with the prettiest of pink lipstick serving me, told that my shade was out of stock. But she could suggest some other colours that would suit my skin tone. I hate trying on makeup in stores but she was so insistent that I couldn’t say no. She pulled out some disposable brushes, the sort one would see at hospitals for scoping samples to test for scabies or something Continue reading
“Gender? As in male & female?” “No as in G.E.N.D.A.”
“Oh is it an acronym?” “No. As it’s Hindi for marigold.”
“Sorry the what?” “Marigold…you know the flower..yellow orangish ones…?”
“Yes..ss.” “It’s a Hindi word for marigold – Genda”
“Ohh. So what’s the project about?” “Ummm…it’s not really a project.”
“…but it says The Genda Project??” “yeahh..it’s just a creative name..you know..like the show Continue reading
Family. Love them or hate them, you can’t change the fact that they’re yours. One in every 5 people will tell you that their biggest strength and support system is their family however one in every 5 people will also tell you that their biggest issue or cause of problems is also their family! Whether its the Greeks, Italians, Turks or Vietnamese despite the cultural differences and complexities, family is a matter of paramount importance to most societies in the world. Continue reading
A time when I wore ribbons in my hair and had braces on my teeth, ‘smart’ people used to be the ones who’d always have their noses stuck in some book. Stereotypically the studious types. Nerds they were called. These days it’s rather your smartphone that’ll give you a smart status. The later version you carry, the smarter you are. Pull out a basic mobile in public and you’ll be pushed down the social hierarchy so fast that any bit of smartness you might’ve had left, will be sucked out on your way down! Continue reading
Life’s a bit like the baggage carousel at airports. And think of us as the duffle bags, the suitcases, the backpacks, the fugly cartons and parcels all rotating on the conveyor belt, slightly squashed and then getting more comfortable with each round in our tiny areas. Sometimes we get lost, delayed or damaged on the journey but we always end up on the conveyor belt till someone picks us up and takes us onto the next one. You’ll notice that once in a while a bag falls off and bounces slightly away from the carousel? Continue reading
What I didn’t anticipate when tweeting this some time back is that one of those tricks was going to work and that I’d be home for Diwali!
My mother is using every trick in the book to convince me to cut my travels short. The best one yet is she’ll finance the next one! #Travel
— Prachar with Sharon (@MaharishiSharon) August 27, 2013
Maha Navratri is a 9-day Hindu festival which is widely and exuberantly celebrated throughout India and wherever you will find the Indian diaspora settled throughout the globe. The celebrations and rituals differ depending on the region you are from however they all pay homage to the divine Shakti, goddess Durga and her nine forms (avatars) of power. Out of the many (and I mean many) Hindu festivals in a year, Navratri is one of the few where I actually don’t mind going vegetarian for a while and giving up alcohol and some other vices. Continue reading
They say our eyes are the doorways to our souls. If this indeed is true then it is in our eyes where our sorrows and fears linger the most. Right on the edge of the doorway, there probably is a constant battle between our souls and our daily lives. A game of push and shove where our souls desperately try to pour out our sorrows and fears and a shove right back inside from our lives around us because it don’t have the time, the energy or the support to deal with it.
We humans are programmed automatically to seek happiness however Continue reading
Shyamni 