09.11.2016

​With the rising ‘right’ alignment of the entire world, nationalism and an evolved form of patriotism is rampant. Self-interest has always been the primary motive in the governance of nations, the only difference being that with the rise of the above phenomenon, we can now see it being expressed overtly. While some might label it as intolerance and not being liberal/secular enough, what prevails is that it is indispensable in matters of national interest.

The Indigenous (neo) Umbilical Cord

As a child, my bed time stories comprised of tales of many revolutionaries (in their own right), including those of Rabindranath Tagore, and how he encouraged Hindus and Muslims to tie rakhis to each other. My mother said this fostered kinship and harmony, along with the extension of security. I do not know what the authenticity of this is, but I didn’t feel the need to seek it, for my mother said it.

Aurum

 

// The evening was velvet, in sight and tenor. Rays of light sewed through the leaves, basting together a muted marquee, watching molten gold caress dusk. The sun plunged down the wide throat of day, a giant’s trinket suspended in the rusty sky, it’s finger trailing carelessly over the contours of Earth, streaking Her with radiant lustre. // Who do you wish upon, when the celestial romance of a star is unaligned for union?

Nature, relentless and liquid, was making up for the glow it knew my words would lack.

Nānu Kannada Tiliyalu Bayasuva

 

In these four hours, I have experienced greater eventfulness than I have in an entire fortnight.

H-103

The realisation of what was the most exhilarating year of my life would not have been the same without the story this picture tells.

There is foetal comfort in this little cuboid, it’s walls like that of a fortress. The criss-cross sears of laughter and tears from this one year stand out against my skin looking like what I think love does. The flicker of smile across my lips is a serious tattletale- I’d let H -103 be my address for as long as can be.

Arrival

Quite a few good things came out of staring at this board for 50 minutes straight in solitary contemplation.

I Saw

Today I saw my Mother,
Softly patter her way to my room
Holding the arms of night,
Iridescent.

Hymn For Eternity

This weekend, Coldplay took everyone by a storm of coloured powder when they released their official music video for ‘Hymn For The Weekend.’

Amidst the din of the voices which bring to light the cultural appropriation of India, the exotic portrayal of a country which is striving to be reckoned for more than its snake charmers, elephants and poverty, there emerges a strand of truth.  Rightly said, India is not only those things which we witness in the video. India is also its teeming metropolises, its mobility in technological advancement and the upcoming global force that it is.

“However, Coldplay seeks to remind us neither the rooftops with the chaarpoys, nor the kitschy posters, nor the sadhus and the temples are obsolete just yet.”

Education For Whom?

Recently, I attended a conference on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. It set some mental cog wheels in motion and disturbed the calculated veil of inflicted reality we choose not to see beyond.