Bright yellow mangoes with their fragrance and juicy sweetness occupied most of little Pranay’s thoughts these days. Now, this was not an out of ordinary occurrence given that Pranay and his family were major mango fanatics. Year after year along with the summer heat a certain mango mania descended upon the Sharma household. *** Mummy […]
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Month: June 2012
Life On A Metro
My metro rides are often accompanied by books or music. Reading about a woman’s struggle against an oppressive society within the comforts of an air-conditioned Ladies’ coach in the train or listening to Manna Dey’s ‘Zindagi Kaisi hai Paheli Hai’ while the surrounding crowd grooves to the beats of ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi, ’ I often find […]
The Unheard…
Just another day. I leave office and wait for an auto to ferry me home. A cheque I had deposited on Monday, should have been credited by now, I think to myself. It surely would help. I am listening to music. A ritual to lose my mind that sometimes can’t focus on life or work, into […]
Trust
Trust. Is it a belief, a hope, an expectation? No. Belief is an exaggerated expectation. A conviction, an idea. Hope is a mere peg to hold on. A desire waiting to be fulfilled. Trust is neither expecting nor holding on. Trust is letting things be. Never reflecting.. never suspecting Never complaining of the betrayal It […]
On A Humid Afternoon-2
This Goan or a Kerala backwaters’ setting was the least I expected from this frenzied, hustling city. The sun had softened in the sky. I walked under its gaze, and sat on a bench in a small, partly open church. An old man was seated at the end of the row of benches. I didn’t notice […]
Book Review: Say Her Name
A sword lodged in stone. That is how Francisco Goldman describes a daughter’s love for her missing father in his visceral tribute to his late wife Aura Estrada in his book Say Her Name which is partly a grief diary of a devastated husband and partly a fictionalised account of life after the death of a […]
Hope And A Cup Of Coffee
Sometimes I feel that this madness just keeps on increasing. Like the background music of my life is building up to this great crescendo except that you cant tell if it’s gonna change back to a major scale after that, and if it does, maybe it will lapse back to the relative minor. Sometimes I want to run […]
Mr Rock Of Ages
From the first still I saw of this movie, where Tom Cruise is shirtless, wearing pants that are faintly Godless, head turned over his shoulder, leaning backwards with one hand straining towards something, like the Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, I knew Mr Cruise had found his Moment. *** The […]
Rajesh Khanna: A Summer Romance
My first memory of Rajesh Khanna is the song, “Accha Toh Hum Chalte Hain (Aan Milo Sajna, 1970) and of me sighing exaggeratedly like he did in the song. And of listening to his songs from Mere Jeevan Sathi (1972) in an Assamese cantonment and trying to sing, “Mera Naam Hai Shabnam” (Kati Patang 1970) and then […]
The Bearded Man In My Head..
I remember I wrote my first poem at the age of seven. It was ‘ Ek je chilo bador, Se kheto sudhu gajor (Once there was a monkey, who ate only carrots)’. My parents had a hearty laugh about it. My father, then told me that Gurudev’s first poem was ‘Jol Pore, Pata Nore’ (It […]
On A Humid Afternoon-1
It was an unjust and humid afternoon-like most of the afternoons here. The sun was beating down hard upon the city and upon the taxi in which I sat sweating profusely, peeping out of the half rolled glass window. A high rise went in a swift curve past my upright gaze. An old man stood […]
Recipe:Raw Mango Cooler
Aam Pana, the traditional summer cooler to beat the heat – but with a smokey twist! Ingredients: 1 ………….. raw mango 1 small piece …………… ginger (or 1/2 tsp grated ginger ) 1/ 4 cup ………………. sugar 2-3 drops ………. lemon juice 1 […]