REFLECTIONS

            Abstract art forms have always puzzled me. Whenever I witness an abstract art form I wonder 'why should one complicate one's ideas while expressing them?'. After all, expression is a medium of putting forth your thoughts in an organised manner. I have seen abstract dance forms which guard veiled ideas or meanings. Abstract movies/plays are meticulously directed to offer the precise theme and message. Abstract paintings portray different meanings to different viewers. They have always disturbed me in terms of clarity and transparency. After speaking to some people who practice and master such art forms here is what I inferred: ABSTRACT When thoughts dig deep And form a heep When brain forms a clench Lest it should belch When words do not work Under fear they lurk When expression must be subtle Yet, the fervour should not shrivel Then, What rescues is the art What take...

Most women will agree that they have had many such instances where they had the 'K' question thrown at them. Some may have answered it boldly with a rational reasoning while others may just give a venomous look. So what is the K question?  It is the unabashed manifestation of the male chauvinism rampant all over the world since centuries. Here it is:           "Why should men know the 'KITCHEN' work when women are supposed to take care of it all life?"  Well, here, I hope I answer this question for all men on behalf of all women, (mind you) very humbly! I believe there are two main reasons why everyone (whether men or women) should know how to cook. First being, for self sufficiency and independence. Analogous with a region or country every indivisual strives towards being self sufficient in all ways possible. A country with less fertile land will make use of better fertilizers thus tr...

Miracles are rare I stand and stare In a sky that is bare On a full moon day! No stars to adorn No clouds it has worn Oh why does it mourn? On a full moon day… But then up high My eyes did fly On the tallest sky What a wonderful day! The moon sat petite Very proudly lit A beaming grit On its own birthday… Enclosed in a ring Under a protective wing Of a big faint lining On a pitch black bay. Its engagingly crisp It stunningly grips Your eyes in a fix A FULL MOON WITHIN AN ECLIPSE. PS: photography by Neha Naik. Thanks neha! :-) 

3 months back,July, when my sister arrived from UK :  I grabbed the opportunity to plan a trip by plane. Dialogue with my father( Baba):   Me: Come lets go somewhere for a loooonng(in that tone!) trip now that Tai(sister) has come and she is here only for 3 months. We'll travel by plane this time. Baba: Why do you want to travel by plane? Me : Baba I am 20 years old and I have not experienced a plane. Isn't that shameful? Baba : So what I experienced it first time when i was 35. Me : Oh common Aai has not experienced it too. We'll have fun. Baba:  Hmm... thats sounds good. You and your sister plan a trip whereever you want. We'll go there.                  Wow! Very rarely do you get an assertion from your parents. So we were at work. Me and Tai. After going through loads of places (in India ofcouse because the trip was not supposed to be too big on Baba's instructions), we came...

On 12 th October 1973, David Davies- a geophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who worked on seismic detection of underground nuclear tests- predicted that India would be the sixth country to conduct nuclear weapon tests. After 7 months he was proven correct by the ingenuity of Indian scientists and the fortitude of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Canada sold a 40 megawatt Canadian-Indian Reactor, U.S. (CIRUS) to India in 1956. India had the necessary manpower and capacity to develop and test a nuclear weapon. The heavy water needed to control Nuclear Fission had been provided by the US. So what made India abstain from performing the nuclear test and from becoming the first Nuclear Power? It is probably the chaste intention to maintain a mellow camaraderie with the other countries or a mere lack of grit in the Indian leadership. Meanwhile India refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty in 1970.  When questioned over it, our ambassador ...

All people have three characters, that which they exhibit, that which they have and that which they think they have.    –Alphonse Karr            We generally live in an illusion, a very beautifully decorated image of ourselves that provides us with an extraordinary self confidence. It is very accurately pointed out by Alphonse Karr that what we are is far apart from what we think we are and what we exhibit. The more diverse the characters are, the more complicated the life is for that person. That exactly is the reason why so many of us (or rather all of us) are different people in different surroundings.  Just give it a thought. Haven’t you ever been called the most naughty person in one place while very ironically the well-mannered gentleman/lady at some other? Also you behave differently to different people. There is no common code of conduct that is maintained with every person we meet. A corollary to this is that our perceptio...

"OHH MAAYY GAWD!!! Is this what its going to be for four years?", I was thinking when i entered the college for the first time. It was examination time and the paper had apparently just ended. The lobby near the reception that we now call 'Putalya Samor', was overflowing with a plethora of emotions coming from 'girls' ONLY!. "What are these species? Are they really my kind?",I wondered. I was absorbing so much of high frequency sound at that time. I felt nauseated. How could I possibly survive in this chaos? 'Me', who has been brought up in a completely co-ed environment.               Fifteen days later, it was the first day of college. All students were to gather in a class room where they would be guided about their curriculum. When I entered the college still wondering what I was doing in this place, there were 5 girls waiting at the stairs of the Main Building. In short, I was too early as usual.         ...

The poem shows less depth than it has... Please try to read through...  Joe was a plowman Who owned a dry land. In a small village The lone farming hand. Other adjoining towns And farms lying therein Owned by ranchers They were all akin. They had sown seeds All of them still naïve Awaited the rain Its absence made them rave. Some of Joe’s kin Prayed to the lord. While some others planned Well to their accord. Joe, on the other hand  Watered his land on time Gave it its nourishment And sung a funny rhyme. One fancy evening When he least suspected It rained in his town ‘Voila!’, they interjected. Happiness beyond happiness Hugged him then Overwhelmed by the success He thanked the Heaven!

“I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” - B.R. Ambedkar Dr. Ambedkar must have done a meticulous analysis before asserting the above words. Why otherwise should he weigh up a community’s progress with the progress of its women? As statistics say, women consist of more than half of the world’s population. This fact itself manifests the need of equal women’s say in every realm of the soceity. Be it the participation of women in parliamentary issues, which has been a subject of argument for years, or be it the more recent- equal compensation and perks to be given to women IAF officers as is to their male counterparts. About 60 years ago it was written very clearly-that all citizens irrespective of their gender, creed, caste or religion should be allowed to practice any occupation and should be given equal privileges in the said office- in a  manuscript called The Constitution of India. Nevertheless, women still need to protest ...

The account of the main event day remains to be written. I will write it as soon as possible. Till then here is one more poem i wrote... I yearned for privacy When we were five Cluttered in a small room Like a busy bee hive We ate, we slept We laughed, we cried Together we enjoyed Life’s roller coaster ride I wished for some space For myself to reconcile Some time to sit alone And train my mind, docile Five reduced to four And four changed to three Chasing our goals in life We set ourselves free Now I have my space I have the time I need But, I don’t know how to spend it I drop a tear bead We still talk often Share each day’s account Yet I am lonely and My insecurities mount Now I know the power Of a cluttered honey hive To make sweet honey Together they strive