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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I woke up with an unfamiliar feeling that gnawed at me. I slowly recognised it as resentment. Unfamiliar because I, consciously or unconsciously, I have practised not to look back unless the memories are happy ones, or not to look too far ahead for a future that is uncertain, even imaginary. This has helped […]
Years ago I watched the The Matrix and it seemed like a fantasy with no element of truth in it. But when I watched it when I was older, it seemed not too far fetched from the reality we wake up to every day. The daily grind. Put your nose to the grindstone and chug away. Work […]
Father was always a fast walker; his strides were long, his gait effortless. When Calvin and I managed to match his pace during our morning walks in Boat Club, I panted more than my canine companion. I was a teenager then and Calvin was just two. Father was faster, brisker, and more focussed than most […]
“I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded; not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.” — The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Hurt announces his arrival with a deafening cacophony of cymbals and trumpets and accordions. He slips into a tuxedo and a […]
Life is hard to define. Sometimes a mystery, sometimes a revelation. A unique blend of sorrows and joys, closures and beginnings, tears and laughter, crests and troughs. I believe we waste too much of precious energy over why, what ifs and should haves. I’ve done that all my life and ended up feeling more […]
In this world of little forgotten things, finding one’s true purpose seems to be of quintessential significance. You got to have an unwavering, steadfast reply to the question “ Who are you”? I don’t have one. I’d like to say, “Hey, I’m Sandra, I’m a writer”, but that’s just a load of crap. I’m no […]
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 […]
In a world where hate is normalised through conversations, social media exchanges, images, sound bytes, war is a constant news ticker and pain has lost its pungency because it is so pervasive, how do we stay hopeful? By not just noticing beauty, but creating it. By focusing on light. And colour. For Japanese American artist […]
One newspaper memory lingers from the terrifying months of the Kargil war. There were two photos side by side on the front page of a national daily. One celebrating India’s win over Pakistan in a World Cup match and another one referring to the Army recapturing a key sector, if I remember correctly. In their […]
Boo is resting after her morning walk; her head is on her favourite panda and she seems to be half-asleep, as though she is reluctant to slip into slumber because she wants to include herself in my parents’ conversation. My parents are having their breakfast, listening to some devotional songs, and discussing the beautiful, mundane things in […]
I have known that I’m different for a long time. I gave up meat when I was in 12th grade and also became a Reiki Level II practitioner. I dabbled in Yoga and spent Saturday mornings at a home for the mentally challenged. Yes, I was different. I felt everything more intensely than everyone else. […]
This time, last year, I had a routine. A routine that I loathed. Wake up. Be grumpy. Drink coffee. Be grumpy. Shower. Be grumpy. Get ready for work. Be grumpy. Work. Be grumpy. Come back home. Be grumpy. Work from home. Be grumpy. Go to bed. Repeat. I was grumpier than The Official Grumpy Cat. I made no […]