What a shame!!

During festival celebrations of past few days, I missed out horrible news of two murders which are enduring reminders of shocking inhumanity. In a city that never sleeps; amid all the buoyant energy that floated in anticipation of festival time, two lives were taken mercilessly, in front of a large crowd! Keenen Santos and Rueben Fernandes, were butchered while they bravely fought for the honour of their lady friends.

It was just like any other day when they got together with their buddies and went out for dinner when some hooligans passed lewd remarks for the female friends in the group. The argument  escalated beyond comprehension and within minutes, two precious lives were lost!  Every time, I look at the pictures of Keenen and Rueben, I feel terrible thinking about the trauma their friends (who were with them on the day, this tragedy occurred) and family must be undergoing. No words can ever console loss of a loved one and when death arrives in such gruesome manner, it is even harder to cope up with all the pain it entails. 


In a nation where women are subjected to atrocious acts like rape, abuse, acid attacks, burning, dowry deaths, female infanticide etc, an incident like eve teasing sounds too "routine", isn't it? None of these heinous crimes I mentioned, really shame us. We have mastered the art of conveniently ignoring this uncomfortable truth of our society. Why get involved "unnecessarily"? It is not happening to "us", isn't it ? Think again. 


While Keenen and Rueben were being slaughtered; there was a crowd of more than fifty people watching the atrocities inflicted by hooligans. Was there some entertainment show going on? How can people just watch spinelessly and do nothing to reach out to save someone's life? Even the passing vehicles stopped for some time and left! Out of all those people gathered there,  not a single soul took initiative to help Keenen and Rueben! This fact pains me as much as loss of two precious lives. 


What kind of society we are becoming? With Keenen and Rueben I witnessed death of basic humanness that connects us all. I bemoan lack of will and vigilance that any civilized society  should display and be accountable for. It is deeply saddening that we still lack the basic education in humanity.


I hope and pray that this case doesn't die out after creating sensation for media and helping them create good TRPs. I hope that we don't stop at lighting candles and protests. If we truly wish to stop the menace of eve teasing and sexual perversion/abuse, we need to STOP being silent spectators to such heinous crimes. We need to stop being afraid of getting involved with police. We need to ACT when necessary.


RIP Keenen and Rueben. I am very proud of what you did for your friends. May God grant your families and loved ones immense strength to cope up with your loss. 

Spreading smiles

Last evening, I was trying to get some rest, after whirling dervish throughout the week for Diwali celebration. The white, bulgy clouds floated in the sky and there was gentle rustle as the autumn breeze passing through the trees, flirted briefly with the leaves. I was transfixed, misty eyed with sheer abundance and slow calming of the season while the year begins to wind down. For me, autumn signifies new beginnings, renewal of intentions and the drive for change. I was contemplating on different aspects of my life and wondering if any change was needed. (I often slip in to that mode when I am alone and at peace) There was one observation that I had made during Diwali and I wish I could do something about it.


I have been to a few Diwali parties last week and one thing that got me thinking was conspicuous consumption and complete lack of moral repugnance towards waste of food, money and few other things. Each place I went to had huge spread of different courses. Half the food remained untouched and some also got wasted. When I learnt the details of the wastage, I cringed. I fail to understand that in a nation like ours where we have deaths due to starvation, how can we allow such criminal wastage? There is nothing wrong in being indulgent and hosting lavish parties but wasting food is absolutely unpardonable. There are so many places where one can give away food, why throw it? 


During Diwali and festival times, people receive so many gifts that sometimes they don't know what to do with them. One of my friends told me how difficult it was to accommodate all the gifts in her two bedroom house. When I suggested her to consider giving some of the gifts to less privileged people, she seemed little shocked. "They are gifts and so many emotions are attached to them" was the logic given to me. Agreed, but one can at least give away some old stuff to find space for the new. Why are we so greedy about holding on to things? 


I understand how painful it is to part with so many beautiful things and if they are carefully chosen for us it becomes emotionally difficult. But, instead of stashing them away for "future use" or "special occasions" why not donate them to some orphanage or old age homes? Over the years, I have conveyed my family and friends not to spend mindlessly on gifts for me. I had to meet fervent opposition initially but they soon realized that I would be happier if they spent their money on someone in need instead of blowing it on buying me some exotic stuff that matches my taste. 


Festivals are not always about buying things. They are about being thankful for one's blessings and sharing them. It is only from people who are much blessed, more is expected. There is absolutely nothing wrong in enjoying one's blessings and being indulgent to the core. But, at no point, one can forget that while we fret over our "problems" like; which interesting cuisines to include or which exotic wines to serve while inviting over people for parties, there are millions of people who haven't had a meal even during the festival days. 


Happiness, they say, is doubled when shared and there is no joy like bringing smile on someone's face. I believe in it completely! 

Happy Diwali!!!

It is Diwali time and in few hours, my house will be filled with family and friends. Within moments of their arrival, there will be huge doses of laughter triggered by nothing really particular. Once we are done with flaunting our new garments, jewelry and other stuff, it will be the time for mad conversations that range from ragging each other to serious, in your face conversations on varied topics and our funny bones would be in overdrive mode, as usual. The beauty is, all this happens in such organic manner that it feels like some magic act that keeps everyone enthralled!

Frankly, I am not in mood to write much today as I am so excited to look forward to this gathering. Such interludes always nurture energies that sometimes translate into spaces of contemplation and realization; my greatest reward for spending so many hours in kitchen and making elaborate meals! And like it happens every time, the complete foodies would indulge in their devotional act of gluttony while the rest of us would enjoy watching them struggle between finding pleasures of renunciations and nirvana in a sheer circle of plate! There would be fervent proclamations about "light bite" and after indulging mindlessly, some of them would vouch for complete detox post Diwali. 

There is so much fun in store that I just cant wait!!! At the risk of sounding abrupt, let me sign off now, amid the crazy sounds of fire crackers all around. I wish all my readers, friends and family a very happy Diwali. Wishing you all the happiness, life has to offer this Diwali and always. God bless!!!

A creepy invasion!

It was one of those days when sometimes, for no apparent reason anything goes right. The maids remained absent without any prior notice and while I was struggling precariously with manic morning demands, the neighbour came wearing sad expression of helplessness and pleaded me to baby-sit her two years old boy for half an hour. Her highness, conveniently returned at lunch time smiling hideously (I secretly wished at that very moment that a few murders were legally allowed!) When I went out, I didn't get a single green signal at any traffic point and none of my work got done. I soon realized, it was just not my day and rushed back home.

There I was; angry, upset, extremely tired, irritable and desperately in need to crash in my favorite chair and listen to some good music. When I entered my room, something bizarre happened that freaked me completely. There was a weirdo on my bed; scattering its legs around the pillows and cushions!! The distance between me and the cold blooded intruder was barely few feet. I became numb with panic while the creepy creature was basking on my bed; unaffected with my presence, bobbing its head, inflating its dewlap, puffing its body and its protruding scary eyes warning me, "Don’t mess with me, babe". It was evident, the Chameleon, had taken over my room and was in no mood to give up its new found fortress. 

When it changed its colour and made a surprisingly swift movement towards my dressing table, I shuddered incessantly and with clenched fist and smeared face I yelled (it was not even close to whisper actually)," Simi, run"! But I was too horrified, as if transfixed under some spell. It took me a while to get back to my "Zaansi ki raani" avatar. 

I wondered how the Chameleon got in my room and noticed an open window that is closer to the garden. The garden, with huge tress like Asoka, Mango, Badam (Terminalia catappa) Parijat, Frangipani serves as perfect tavern for many a tenements and is a melting pot for many alien creepy crawly empires. I have witnessed so many ongoing scuffles for survival from my bedroom window. Some creatures manage to scamper away before any bird or Chameleon reaches them. 

I gathered courage and after a few unsuccessful trials, managed to drive away the Chameleon. I laughed at myself for acting silly and giving myself that harrowing time when I could have easily kept calm and shooed away the creep at the very sight of it. Blame it on a childhood memory of experiencing the horror of watching a lizard tail on the floor, wriggling frantically despite being detached from its body, at a friend's house. Ever since, I go bonkers at the sight of any creepy crawly. 

I made myself a nice cup of coffee and went to my favourite spot- the window. The scary creature was on the Badam tree trunk, in a joyous mood as if playing hide and seek with me and saying,"gotcha"! I grabbed my camera and thought of capturing that naughty intruder. When I looked at it, I noticed what a colourful, beautiful creation God had made! I smiled and was happy for the first time during entire day.  

Durga Puja, Mishti Doi and some flavours of life!

I am fortunate to have had a childhood that was rich with exposure to different religions. When religious, geographical and cultural boundaries transcend and festivals are celebrated by different communities with gaiety and devotion, there is a beautiful, infectious energy in air! I just love to be soaked in that lovely energy, completely!  

Maa Durga, embodiment of Shakti, (strength) with Ganesha, Saraswati and Laxmi

Festivals provide amazing interludes from the daily grind and grant us joy of finding hope; which is becoming increasingly rare, in our urban, metropolitan existence that sometimes appears to be nothing but a cruel joke! These interludes are marvelous respite and often introduce me to new spaces of thinking; a delightful wandering that I truly revel. 

Symbol of victory of good over evil  

One of my favourite festivals is Durga puja. Despite the commercial aspect in festival celebrations; at Durga Puja, the major attraction for me is, witnessing remnants of tradition in form of "Dhunuchi naach" and watching dhakis (drummers) perform their art with great devotion. One more attraction is, of course, indulging in Mishti Doi and other Bengali sweets WITHOUT any iota of guilt! 

Traditional Dunuchi dancer performing his naach and the Dhakis

This year though, I could not go pandal hopping and had to be content with only one visit to Durga Puja. Albeit, I was immensely rewarded by the sheer confluence of varied images of life! I just let my senses fill congruent assortment of interesting hues of life, throbbing at the Puja pandal. There was ethereal beauty to all the chaos that was transpired every moment. So much was happening around that it was like moment to moment horizons reverberating with peaks, interspersed with incantation, creating fascinating splendour!  

Performers playing different traditional, musical  instruments 

The newly weds, young couples with newly born babies, middle aged people with children and extended family and friends and even old people, all connected in their earnest prayers and requests, in some divine way, rejoicing in worship. It was a treat watching women flaunting their traditional family heirlooms!

A Dhaki, in his traditional, vibrant  attire

I had to struggle to take photographs as there was so much crowd that many times I even got pushed but considering all the fun I had at the Puja and the mishti, it was worth it. When I returned, there was flood of positive feelings. All the chaos I had witnessed at the Puja had somehow transformed into euphonic whole and I was at complete peace with myself.

Dhaki, playing with religious fervour