Dum hai to pass kar, nahi to bardast kar!

First published on Facebook on 11th September 2011, re-posted unedited All those who love to drive cars and particularly those who are self declared greats would agree that we take “PANGA” with total strangers for no apparent reason. Some of the conditions are; to dismiss someone with an inferior machine. To deliberately “ungli” someone with … Continue reading Dum hai to pass kar, nahi to bardast kar! →

Addicted to the T

She was angry and afraid of her predicament. She felt that life had served her a raw deal. It was unfair, she deserved better. She was too good to find herself in this position. She spoke about it with her family and her friends. Some of them were sympathetic, they offered her their shoulders to … Continue reading Addicted to the T →

The Maryada Conundrum

Few days back, a video clip went viral on social media, where a European traveling in a plane filmed his co-passenger eating food with her bare hands (without knives and forks) and said that it was gross to do so. As usual, the comments section was quickly filled with opinion about the cultured and acceptable … Continue reading The Maryada Conundrum →

Strip down and step down..!

The joke landed but only just. Part of the crowd laughed a bit and the rest smiled; amused with the clever wordplay but annoyed with the undertone. There was this unmistakable sense of smug superiority underneath the jovial demeanor of the performer. Intellectual racism; is when the speaker assumes and awards oneself a higher moral … Continue reading Strip down and step down..! →

The Social Contract

Select transcript of Mel Gibson’s 1998 interview. The social contract: you can’t get mad; you can’t get mad, you can’t let it get you. You have to make a deal with everyone else and it’s almost unspoken, that you are going to be fucked over at some point, by people, who you may have done … Continue reading The Social Contract →

Oppenheimer, death of a star.

श्रीभगवानुवाच कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः । ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः ॥ ११-३२ ॥ Bhagawan said, I have become death and I am inclined to destroy. Whether you chose to kill or not, your enemies shall die. तस्मात्त्वमुत्तिष्ठ यशो लभस्व जित्वा शत्रून्भुङ्क्ष्व राज्यं समृद्धम्‌ । मयैवैते निहताः पूर्वमेव निमित्तमात्रं भव सव्यसाचिन्‌ ॥ … Continue reading Oppenheimer, death of a star. →

Godavari

प्रवाह आणि प्रतिबिंब सवयी, स्थिती आणि स्वास्थ्य असे काही मूलभूत प्रश्न घेऊन ८-१० वर्षांपूर्वी पुण्यातील एका मानसोपचारतज्ज्ञांकडे मी गेलो होतो. दैनंदिन जीवनातील पेच आणि त्यात गुरफटलेल्या सामान्य माणसाला समुपदेशनाची मदत होऊ शकते हे अजून सुद्धा समाजाला तितकंसं मान्य नाही. अर्थात बदल घडतोय आणि आजच्या जगण्यातील अनिश्चितता आणि अस्थिरता लक्षात घेता समुपदेशन हि काळाची गरज होणार … Continue reading Godavari →

India… India…

I remember reading an article many years ago, I think it was in India Today or maybe in The Week. It talked about cricket in the 90s and about Sachin in particular. How the streets went empty when he played and how traffic resumed when he got out. How he was the only player who … Continue reading India… India… →

Conflict and Art

Conflicts of all sorts are manufactured. Whether it is direct confrontation between two nations, or economic one-upmanship between large corporations or the covert assault of the ambiguous virus on the global population, everything is man-made. An average person has little or no control over these, it is sheer luck whether one survives or falls victim … Continue reading Conflict and Art →

The Song I Remember, The Space I Revel

I was nineteen years of age, a typical young adult pushed out of the comfort and simplicity of school life and thrown in to the chaos of the outside world. The choices, the competition and the constant feeling of being behind the curve used to leave me feeling like an outlier. As I was grappling … Continue reading The Song I Remember, The Space I Revel →