Category: randomthoughts
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THE (UN)NICENESS OF FANS
Some months ago there swirled a warm debate among a few of my author friends. Now that its chaleur has died down, I reflect again on its elements. It all began with the premise that celebrities may not be inclined to indulge their fans every single moment. They too have their off days when they…
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THE EXTRAORDINARINESS OF THE ORDINARY
Like most people who go about their business without any fanfare, quietly absorbed in their daily routines, their work, their play, their rest, I too have lived my life quietly. All off the radar. Not that we are not occupied or busy enough; on the contrary, there are many among us who struggle to find…
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THE DIWALI THAT WAS
There is something resoundingly vibrant about festivals at home, each characterised with its own unique celebration and its own quotient of enthusiasm and fervour. And while the calendar marks every month with reasons to celebrate, the one festival I look forward to the most has always been that spectacular one of lights, Diwali. Its near-week…
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On Growing Older
My husband and I slipped into our senior citizenship some years ago. Yes, we are officially older than that comfortably nebulous category of middle-age though we may fight shy of regarding ourselves as properly old. Well, I don’t feel old, I don’t think old either. Of course, my body may contend otherwise, but my mind tells me that I am as sharp and sprightly as ever. Anyway, we marked the occasion quietly, without too much ado, and then carried on much as…
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRATIMA!
She was my laughing Buddha. Nearly seven years older than me, she never made me feel that distance. She was wiser, kinder, yes, but she was also infinite fun. Always eager for a joke, finding humour even in the most prosaic, turning a word, a person, a situation on its head and cracking up at…
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OH, TO READ!
I am an inveterate reader. Committed, addicted, insatiable. I come from a family of readers. Growing up at a time and place where television hadn’t reached us yet leave alone the powerfully addictive internet, reading was my window to the world. We siblings would quarrel about who had first claim to a new book, wait…
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On GRIEF
This I know. Grief is hard. It hurts, it overwhelms, it suffocates. From the moment it appears, it seeks to settle in. A nebulous entity at first, unformed, unknown, unarmed. That slowly begins to feed on us, our mind and memories, our love, loss and longing. Then growing at its own pace, on its own…
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O YE, OF LITTLE FAITH
I was born and raised a Hindu, embedded with a moral compass that drew largely from the Hindu religious tradition, given its pointers to the good and wholesome way to live my life, the virtues to imbibe and vices to eschew. I grew up among friends and neighbours, a mix of many religions among them:…
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LATA, MY DEAR…
It’s a summer evening, my parents are out in the garden. She in her cotton saree, juhi buds wreathed into a gajra in her hair. He in his kurta pyjama, his thick black spectacles wedged firmly on his nose, his gin and lime idling in his hand. Music playing, always heavenly heady music. Maybe, a…
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QUIET PLEASE!
Discourse is becoming increasingly fractious, I find. Frivolously fractious too. So much so that labelling it as discourse is an insult to the word. There are more verbal brawls today than there are respectful discussions. Am I growing out of date, I ask myself, when I fear I cannot keep pace with the histrionics that…