“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
When our female Speaker of Parliament last year made those infamous comments on women aggravating their husbands to the point of them loosing it and becoming violent, I recall the backlash from feminist organisations and individuals, and the fiery debates on social media forums. I also recall how I didn’t really deem anything wrong with the Speaker’s comments at that time Continue reading
I signed off last year on the blog with wishes of a ‘bindaas’ 2016. Bindaas, a Hindi (Mumbaiya actually) slang roughly means without any hesitations. Carefree. With reckless abandon. And by God, did I have a bindaas year.
It’s been a rough year. A stop-go kind of one. One where schedules didn’t work and plans had to be improvised from month to month. A year where you just simply did. 2016 didn’t give much time for brainstorming or coming up with any action plans. You just did what you had to do and there was no Continue reading
I’ve just devoured a box of Lale’s fried chicken (a recent favourite) and now sitting back in the wonderment that how fried chicken could make a person so completely content? I mean this is a cooked carcass of a bird that’s probably died a long time ago. How could the death and the fried aftermath of another living thing provide so much happiness to another? Especially to a Hindu. Continue reading
Around New Year’s Eve, there are 2 kinds of people. One who excitedly embrace and get swept in the New-Year-New-Me-Yay frenzy and the other who roll their eyes at the resolutions popping on their timelines because Continue reading
It was either Technical Drawing or Home Economics. I chose Technical Drawing and like most things in high school, I sucked at it. My lines were wobbly, my text never straight and my circles despite the sharp Staedtler compass set never perfect.
When we were past drawing squares and circles, we came to a unit called Perspective Drawings. And for the life of me then, I could never understand why the heck they made us draw the same bloody thing like 3 times. In an isometric view then in a 2-point dimension and then Continue reading
Something I wrote last week on this blog got a lot of flak. And not just on my opinions. While I can understand the strong reaction to what I had written, I can’t fathom the personal comments and insults that went around on social media especially by people who have never met me.
If you’re one of those people who judge someone based your assumptions without actually meeting them in person then I’m afraid what you think is really your business. 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
I’ve always been a bit of a mover. It’s difficult for me to live in a predictable surrounding for an extended period of time. While to many familiarity is a comfort, I tend to start feeling suffocated if the status quo doesn’t change on regular basis. Three to four times a year, I re-arrange my apartment. It’s not a pre-determined thing. It comes on all of a sudden. Something would trigger it off and I would be shifting furniture in the middle of the night. Continue reading
Dear Mum,
I am writing to let you know that Bharat Matrimony is really not for me. Ever since ZeeAsia has run those Assisted Matrimony adverts on their channel, I know you’ve been convinced that that’s the ultimate solution to my ‘single’ problem. I also know that your sister’s husband’s cousin’s niece had also met someone from the interrnet so you are a 100% certain that this thing will work. But I should tell you that it probably won’t for me. You see mum, I am a 90’s girl. I grew up in the late 80’s and early 90’s and I am all about old-school communication. Let me explain.
Continue reading
Shyamni 