My Journey Growing up, I was told I had extremely curly hair. My mother used to oil it every day and make two plaits. Although I hated it then, and was made fun of by girls whose parents allowed them to keep their hair short for looking unfashionable, I now realise that it was a [...]
While I had watched the film Saudagar several times over the decades, I first heard of Nolen Gur only a few years ago, when Sweet Bengal opened an outlet near my house and I had my first Nolen Gur Rossogulla. My eyes popped out of my head at the unexpectedness of it. It's not a [...]
The English name for her Is Tuberose, a name so unimaginative For a flower such as Rajnigandha. She's not much to look at I admit, Ordinary as flowers go, Too tall, too thin and she scatters Easily, one ill-wind away from falling By day you'd pass, unimpressed, The bunch you stuck into a vase Recycled [...]
You know the world has irrevocably changed when an MH02 autorickshaw agrees to to go to an MH03 destination. Let me explain. Like in most big cities, you can look at the number plates of kaali-peelis and autorickshaws to tell which part of Bombay they are from. MH01 would mean South Bombay, MH02, Bandra-Andheri, MH03 [...]
Mahadevi Akka was a fool,Who thought she could flyWhen she took off her clothesIn a declaration of her freedom.She wandered the streetsIn her birthday suitSinging praises of Chenna Mallikarjuna,Her divine Loverbecause the local boysJust didn't measure up.The joke's on her though.The local boys offended by her naked body,Covered her in clothesAnd stuck her into a [...]
Pic: Internet I love Rebel Wilson. Who doesn't, you may well ask. But I LOVE her. For my family, who are massive fans of the Pitch Perfect series, she’s something of a hero. I imagine they wrote her in as a token diversity character of a fat friend, the comic relief. But such is the [...]
As usual I’m a little late entering the reviewing game. I find it difficult to do anything, see anything that comes with a tag of majoritarian approval: send your kid to school, everyone has done it since time immemorial, watch Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo, it's a huge hit; 48% of the country voted for Modi, [...]
I found you one noon,Just behind the septic tankYour roots wedged Into a crackat the confluence of Two corroded pipesCarrying rivulets ofmineral rich shitFrom the toilets of menWho distinguish themselvesBy walls and caste and religion.You winked at me, all pretty in your pink,“I couldn’t tell whose is which,Shit’s just shit”."But, but", I stammer,"Why did you [...]
"Like a compass needle that always points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always." –A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini. A 34-year-old male actor recently died by suicide and everywhere I see, grownass men and women are addressing him as that 'poor boy'. The 'boy' was highly educated, by some reports even [...]
The Ridley Scott directed G I Jane (1997) is one of my guilty pleasures. Watching the elfin Demi Moore transform into a buff, tough-as-nails Navy Seal, cigars, buzz cut, moonlit one-armed push ups and all was thrilling for the 24-year-old me, nearly a quarter century ago. With no one else to share my nascent feminist [...]
You are a nothing 