Friday, September 30, 2011

These bloody Bandhs

I honestly thought I wouldn't write about this but with the madness reaching a crescendo I really wanted to protest my life coming to a grinding standstill with the only way I know...by writing. I've written about Telangana before (2 years back) but this time, the situation is so completely out of order that this is 17th day of an ongoing strike- no buses are running on the roads, with everyone from pujaris, news paper vendors, civic maintenance staff protesting on one day or the day, Hyderabad...this wonderful, magnanimous city of life and laughter is looking worse for wear and disturbingly, is beginning to tear because of the enormity of stupidity available in abundance. The Real estate lobby is crippled, all the IT industries have halted their plans for expansion and with even emergency services like medical aid on a stretcher, none of it is just annoying anymore its unnerving and scary. I am all for protest, protest is an individual right but when it turns into dissent and affects the life of everyone around it needs to be dealt with. The deafening silence of Delhi (busy dousing the flames of 2G) is resonant and I lament the fact that schools are closed, shops are burnt and traffic is thrown out of gear because some extremely jobless people feel like it. Another aspect which scares me is that most of us have become immune to this agitation just like the daily power cuts we are subjected to, indeed, I lived with myself for the past 17 days without even battling an eye lid.

What gives one person the right to disrupt another life and what makes one immune to it? Where will this lead to and what price will we end up paying for this?

Monday, September 19, 2011

Rumblings

When I was growing up I was roundly criticized for not exploring life enough...not many girl friends, not even the usual drinking/drugging retinue, not enough going out and certainly not experimentation. I was always clear as to where I stood and what I wanted. As a 15 year old in a disco, I knew that it was not a place I wanted to go back,ever. The definitive distinction of the parallels and the keen knowledge that they would never ever intersect was sacrosanct and simple. My distractions, my prejudices and my distorted beliefs were my cumulative effort to hold on to the only way of life I knew. Of late though, I've been questioning every action and inaction of mine, every decision I took and take and every choice is under a scanner. Am I growing up or growing older, or are questions merely knife edged extension of the doubts I am clouded under, shrill but omnipresent. I who like order and stability have developed a close knit relationship with chaos of every imaginable kind and the new strains of thoughts, new bouts of uncertainties do not unsettle me, I finally am welcoming them to my fold, not drawing invisible lines around me, not clutching at strings which were never present and not taming the confused cousins of these thoughts. Simple choices sometimes unlock doors which we never know existed and I hope that while this new tide washes over, the old guard only reigns in, not drain out completely.

Change has finally succeeded to seep through the doors, dressed as hope and certainly looks as delicious as desire but will it be as doomed?

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Yellow boots and all

- I saw the wonderfully eccentric " That girl in Yellow boots" and was glad that movie makers, from the mainstream are willing to explore bold topics which are still taboo but bringing them out of the closet. Kalki was so delicate yet disturbing and I was really glad that she is getting roles ( albeit from her husband) that bring out the depth in her acting capabilities. Added to that was the wonderful back ground score, loved the movie.

- Interviewed the amazing Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma on the crazy Ganesh viserjan day. He was so tall and so soft spoken and super sarcastic when he told the Novotel PR that when he asked why there weren't any fruits in his room. He got an answer saying that that was a privilege only for VIP's...adding nonchalantly to the PR that he was not important but was merely hungry! The look on that PR's face was priceless!

- Read Aatish Taseer's new book but thought it was bollocks. I know he had a troubled life with an absentee father but three books based on the same premise? Seriously? And look at all female interviewers falling all over him....who ever said that only us poor men ogle?

- Redrawing boundaries, meeting new people and having fun...all of this sounds so weird especially when you've been away a bit but am meeting so many interesting people these days and having fun too.

- My first post from my latest gadget, do I see Sa smirk?