I had an epiphany: We are scared of The Dark. Both inner and outer. The fragile inner nightscape, we napalm it with opioids, antipsychotics, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, anxiolytics. We walk around like shell-shocked extras from District 12 and are deemed fixed. The outer darkness was far easier to civilize. Pluck the forests, drain the swamps, [...]
Mahabharata and gender wars
Gandhari had been pregnant for nearly two years with no signs of a baby emerging. It had been a most difficult pregnancy too. In despair she struck at her belly with an iron rod, and in that instant she went into labour and delivered, not a healthy baby but an unformed, hideous lump of grey [...]
Decoration
With half my life gone it occurs to me In a maudlin moment that I'm nature's Hippocratic oath, Primum non nocere. Harmless, More decorative than decorated, Like the epaulettes on my jacket That bear no rank, nor insignia For I won no wars. Just bright and inconsequential bits of Haberdashery picked up From Colaba Causeway [...]
Rescue
A few days ago, I had had a conversation on FB about boundaries that one draws around oneself, boundaries of revulsion and fear. Well, two of mine were erased today. One was to rescue and release a huge Black ( Pariah) Kite and other was in being forced to acknowledge my fellow rescuer, our building [...]
Tears
Crying would be much more fun If it wasn't so uncomfortable. It's supposed to be catharsis, not Cauterized eyes and dripping noses. I want to be that sexy lady in a Diaphanous nightie, stretched out On a chaise lounge Weeping into an ineffectual lace hanky. The moonlight streams in, And in walks Guru Dutt singing [...]
Kintsukuroi
Ever since I learnt of this Japanese technique of Kintsukuroi, Heartbreak has become more Manageable. You know when they say, get a hobby to get over it? Well, decorating my heart is my hobby. I have always been clumsy with this heart of mine, Wearing it on my sleeve as I do. But now, A [...]
Rebellion v/s Reform
My parents got married in the year 1967 in my mother’s maternal home on the banks of her beloved Kaveri river. As I flip through the pages of sepia-toned photographs of my parents’ wedding album, a stray thought floats by, the sepia in these pictures must have come from the ink of a real-live Cuttlefish [...]
