The Middle Ground

With all those glorious forecasts made about how great the future of India is and all the history rammed into student's impressionable brains of the Freedom Struggle year after year, with all the crap that Bollywood keeps churning every week (with a narcissistic Mayawati building another statue of herself!) I sometimes fear if we are over-complacent during these turbulent times of global political and economic change. A niggling thought at the back of my mind says that my fears aren't entirely baseless. Take for instance, our respectable neighbour country who can't seem to figure out where to accommodate their humongous population, and begins to eye our soil. Yes, I speak about the North-Eastern limb of India which is under threat today, from the shrewd Chinky Eyed clan whom our politicians still want to refer to as kith(Remember 'Hindi Cheeni Bhai Bhai'?) Pretty laughable that the world's fastest growing economy has such moral standards. But sadly, our...

Then there are people whom I met in Infosys who are totally wacky, completely gross, absolutely silly yet loads of fun to be friends with. You'll know what I am talking about: Take Prazy boy for instance. He drops into Chennai from Bangalore as if it were just half-an-hour apart on bike, in the middle of the week even sometimes. The plans to meet-up-have-fun follow shortly and amalgamate pleasantly with my weekend plans. Incessantly giggling, we watch movies mostly or eat out sometimes with other friends. With Prazy boy around you'll be rolling on the floor laughing invariably.Whether it is the Curious Case of the Parrot and the parotta or Rindo's 'play'-tonic relationships with his Transformers(and ahem, Barbie dolls), Prazy's impromptu style with words always amuse me. Like all good things, there is a downside to this as well. Consider this: On demanding a gift on Rakhi , he replied that I was already a 'gifted' person and hence wouldn't need a...

Thodasa Roomani Ho Jayen is essentially a fairy tale set in modern times. Produced by Doordarshan and directed by Amol and Chitra Palekar, this movie tells the story of a girl, Binny, who thinks that she doesn't look beautiful. She lives with her father and two brothers in a city where the rains are late on a particular year. One day a con man arrives at their offering to bring rain within 2 days, in exchange for Rs.5000. He proceeds to touch each of their lives gradually ironing out creases of despair and sadness from their minds. The protagonists portray humane characters, each coloured with different fears, insecurities and strengths. The dialogues are creatively woven into rhymes, adding to the fairy-tale effect. The movies takes us to an old age home full of merry-making old men and to a wedding reception where well-dressed people exchange artificial niceties. It touches the different strata of our society, across age-groups, between the two genders, highlighting very subtl...

I am going to rave some more about my friends. To Guys and a Gal It was one of those usual weekends, when you are a fresher in a city, and you can't stand a single second because the people around you are not like anybody you know and you want to gulp down a couple of pegs and become someone else having to do nothing with the people or the city. Abhishake and Avinash crashed into a discotheque one such weekend. They used to live in Noida then. In Chennai, I was lazing around in my room that evening. My phone went abuzz. 'Abhishake calling...' 'Hello?' A wide grin spread across my face. This guy is a great friend, a very likeable person, sentimental yet strong and understanding. The song 'Desi Girl' from Dostana blared in the background. For the uninitiated, this song features Junior B, Piggy Chops and Johny Bravo having a blast in a stylish disco. 'Hello?' I repeated, my curiosity piqued now. Two voices broke into the...

I have been most fortunate to have some of the most adorable people in the world as friends. Since I am sitting in this little balcony in my room at the IFMR hostel, and its a lazy, sultry Saturday night, let me just write about those whacky old cronies of mine. My brother is younger to me by 5 years. Growing up with him, doing things for him had turned me into someone who always required to do something for people around. During Engineering, the evenings in the hostel were spent in listening to a friend pouring her heart out, or laughing endlessly over nonsense or cramming textbooks together.I needed my quiet time but I couldn't imaging a life without the buddies. After graduation, we were all sad at being posted at different locations for our respective jobs.At the same time we were trying to become serious professionals (whatever that meant). All of us swore that no matter where we were, we would always remain in touch. This was the motivation behind perfectly cra...

The slanting rain across the wide window panes. Do I love him? Fields of endless green move past. Do I love him? Sleep beacons dreams. Funny how useless we become when the lights are turned off. A tree, a temple, a tavern and their silhouettes.The sky, orange-purple behind. Outside, a calf struggles to step on the earth. Where thirsty guillotines and the milking machines wait. Someday. Another mother, a human one, grits her teeth inside. Unlike the calf , this baby will wail after being born, though for no apparent reason. Humans have never quite been silent about anything, have they? Between the stones, the mustard gets ground, the fish gets fried in hot boiling oil. Flies flit in and out of the children some where, I know. Lucky you , a voice quips inside. How can I be useful, I wonder. Answer this one question, God. How can I be useful? Though drenched with sweat in the sultry, summer afternoon, I choose not to switch on the fan. Masochist. I smile sarcastically. Of ...