In 1979, Basu Chatterjee made Baaton Baaton Mein and unobtrusively brought to us the dating and courtship rituals of a community that was till then either caricatured or just overlooked in Hindi cinema. Nancy Perreira and Tony Braganza…
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Matriarchal manipulation in a patriarchal world is depicted unsparingly in Usha Priyamwada’s Pachpan Khambe Laal Deewarein (Now playing on Prasar Bharti). The mother resentful of her lecturer daughter’s comfortable life in her college residence because the younger daughters…
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“Start with hope..always start with hope. We went from being a shitty team to become one of the biggest dynasties in the sport and all it needed was one match to light this fire,” says Michael Jordan at…
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In 1947, my grandparents brought three children and the remains of an uprooted life from Pakistan to India in a train. One of those children was my mother. I grew up hearing a lot of stories about the…
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Three documentaries streaming right now show the ultimate culmination of the Bois Locker Room culture. And what happens when one gender is taught to mistrust its instincts of self-preservation and the other does not even learn something as…
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In Sudip Sharma’s Paatal Lok (Now streaming on Amazon. Co written by Sharma, Sagar Haveli, Hardik Mehta and Gunjit Chopra. Directed by Avinash Arun and Prosit Roy), India’s disowned inhabit the headlines we turn away from. A young…
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When identities With sharp piercing contours Wound and injure The ‘odd-men-out’ When free-speech or free- will Is mother of all sins; Don’t look at my words They are either not words, or Not mine anymore. Words, thrown at you, Pushed in your mouth, For gains unknown to you To pacify one, hurt another Unnerve you. […]
There’s a tree in my neighbour’s garden And inside, I see a nymph. She’s trapped within That rough, grey bark. Frozen. Heart still beating, Eyes still seeing, Mind still racing. But they will slow soon too. Years later she will forget. Another form, she’ll take; A reverse metamorphosis Eyes still seeing Heart still beating. Only […]
The pain of men Is the crux of noir It’s why girlfriends Are found in fridges The pain of men Is stoic Quietly eats away at the men The pain of men Drives revenge epics Fuels classical tragedies The pain of men Ennobles, somehow The pain of women Is everyday Everywoman And when it is […]
When they scatter your ashes On the slopes of Landour Cantt. I will walk up Rajpur road And meet you there. On that bendy path by which, The Raj, in palanquins, was carried To its Summer Capital. Where we kicked at logs Laid out to ease the climb And marvelled at the old Abandoned chalk […]
I do not entirely dislike this era When I see Van Gogh’s sunflowers on a paper bag On the arm of a young woman in a mini skirt Messaging someone on her phone I do not entirely dislike the idea That it is all minutiae now And entire libraries can wait on her phone Unread […]
Insides of my skull Echoing sounds Of drumming water On tin window shields Banging the brain Into numb submission Fading slowly out of Thought, into morass. Looking out of glass Like fish in pointless swim My aquarium filled With moist air. Trapped must feel like this Free must feel like this Sightless must be […]
Can you hear the Music of the Breeze? The Music of the Leaves? The Music made by Birds? The humming of the Trees? Can you hear your blood singing? Can you hear the heart pinging? On a machine that says you are alive, Can you hear your breath steaming? Can you hear the Earth thumping? […]
And it is better and it is safer it is certainly safer where the lights only glance off obscurity like the merest droplets bouncing off a ledge and on and away and it is safer not to peer up or down or away or within to settle in one’s own sedimentary layer to be gradually […]
She plants lavender bushes on arid earth and keeps the soil moist, welcoming and fertile for thirsty seedlings. She is like the trees sheltering. And like the gardener nurturing. She knows the words the silences. Her hands build heal becalm soothe revive and remain invisible because she likes fading into serene margins. To never claim […]
It was almost morning When I heard the voice. A voice that said, “You got to wake up!” Loud and clear like the tinkling of a bell A voice like no other Melodious yet firm gentle yet powerful Exhilarating mind, body and soul Pulling me to my work desk Till I sat upright with restless […]
It starts with a hum and slowly builds into a wave that washes over your mind, body and soul. A singing bowl really does sing to you. It takes a certain pace, a restrained rhythm all working in sync to make this music. The best way to play it is to surrender. Close your eyes […]
I open my cupboard And my clothes fall out like my feelings flow out in your presence. In the huge heap at my feet, I see your sweatshirt hidden under the blues, greens, pinks and reds. I almost instantly reach out and put it on. And I’m taken somewhere where I’m accepted for who I […]