Chiffonesque

Today I am sated. I ate a big dinner with soft, white rice covered with spicy daal. There was bhindi cut up in small pieces and fried. It was deliciously red and crusty with salt and chilli powder. I finished off the meal with large spoonfuls of yogurt that was so white and creamy that it seemed whipped with sky and foam. I was full of memories of my Delhi trip last week. I stayed in a little hotel in Daryaganj. Our room was on the terrace where I waited eagerly for my little square of sunlight to visit me every morning. I remember sipping black tea at a friend's place. It had peach fairy lights strung around a mirror. I remember rose-tinted sunsets that suffuse the Jama Masjid with so much splendor that the goats there look like bards in Baghdad. They may easily have even been them. I saw one that had a white and black turban coiled on its head and draped in yellow and crimson carpets. I think of the slow smile that always spreads across my face when I think of Delhi. When

(A friend posted a picture on Facebook. It's a photograph of a deep, blue ocean during the day. The water is calm with gentle waves. The surface of the ocean is a study in lovely blue gradients. Beyond it is a clear sky. It has no clouds and the waters have no ships. Across this picture is scribbled in white, frothy font - 'free'. Thought of this poem when I saw that picture.) The body sleeps The self steps out Crumbs of broken slumber Still lodged in nails   The horizon tilts The self slides down Lands on the velvet blue Over which stars set sail  

I still count them as victories Times when I haven't won Times when I could have stalled Yet, I simply begun.

Sometimes, Pune exposes me to very nuanced imbecility.   Where people actually believe and say things like "Rape is a Delhi problem. Thank God we're not there."   Now, here is why a 'Delhi problem' should matter to us - the lucky few who live in the cultured, hallowed lanes of Pune (even if we have come from the corrupted cesspool of Mumbai. The hope is that with time in this virginal city of culture, poetry, and literature, one will be transformed.) Anyway, here's why we should care about a 'Delhi problem'. New Delhi is the capital of India. (Seriously, I'm not joking. It's not Koregaon Park. Who knew, right?!) If this were war, if we were fighting an enemy, if the enemy captured Delhi, then it means they, in effect, capture India. So, if rape is a Delhi problem and nothing gets done there, the likelihood of any solid legislative change or social reform or political will or judicial activism transforming into anything meaningful any

Number One: I don't think I can live in a house with a T.V. again. This is possibly why I am a little uncertain of getting a flatmate or sharing the house with someone. Most people get bored without a T.V. My mother often tells me to buy a T.V. so that when she comes over, she won't get bored. Or the T.V. will be useful to keep the help occupied when they aren't working. (If my mother comes over, she usually has some full-time help with her.) I think, however, that no T.V. is good for me and for people such as me - including my mother and her help - and that basically means everyone. It's high-time we got bored. With T.V., one is not necessarily engaged or even entertained. One is distracted and stimulated. Which is a dangerous combination leading to insomnia and stress and a subliminal agitation that is too under the surface to do anything about. T.V. wouldn't be too bad if one is of a certain personality type. But T.V. affects me deeply. I am almost paralyzed w

Someone had sent across a picture of two teeny pugs snuggling into each other, fast asleep. One's non-existent stub of a nose mashed into the soft back of the other pug. (I just found the picture. Here it is.) I forwarded this picture to a friend with the message: "Here's why you're having trouble with your network. It ain't following you anymore." I thought that was funny.

My list of resolutions have the staples – lose weight, sleep early, not use credit card must like a tissue paper to wipe off early sprouting of greed, cook more, eat less, walk more, talk less, etc. And I know exactly where these resolutions will land up in the middle of January. (They will be neatly listed on fancy stationery, with none of the items crossed off.) But somewhere inside me my conscience is whimpering, “Have some scruples!” Hence, I’m putting down some resolutions that I can actually see myself working on. Get with it:  My first resolution is to see what the fuss is about all those books that get written in series, i.e. – Fifty Shades ( http://www.indiabookstore.net/search?q=Fifty+Shades+of+Grey ), Harry Potter ( http://www.indiabookstore.net/search?q=Harry+Potter ), Twilight ( http://www.indiabookstore.net/search?q=Twilight ), etc. The truth is, I have never been a ‘Second book of the series’ kind of person. I don’t see the merit of writing in series. If you