Idyllic Thoughts

It rained after a long time yesterday night in Mysore and I missed it. I was fast asleep and woke up to find the earth cool and oozing a beautiful scent. I love to see the roads after rain in the mornings. There is no word in English which adequately describes the serene beauty of the wet leaves and bent trees which look so happy that they seem like a fair maiden who has just returned from visiting her lover - shy and yet knowing, lost in memories and oblivious to surroundings. The empty roads look untrodden and we seem to be trespassing. Walking alone, I get the same feeling I used to get when I lay on the very huge rock near my grandma's home. Looking up at the sky, I could see only the sky everywhere and got lost for hours, imagining myself to be alone in the whole world. The world down looked tiny, the compound walls looked like faraway territorial boundary of a castle and the setting of the sun, like the sun setting on an empire. Sometimes knowledge stands in the way of enjo...

Mysore mornings are very cold now. It was so chilling a few days ago that we would shiver from feet up, to the very tip of our lifeless hairs. And I hate sweaters, jerkins. I start for the Press from home at 7.30 am and shiver all the way. After reaching I take a minute outside in the sun who too seems to radiate cold rays and fails in his duty to warm us up. It is fun to get warm and cozy after braving the chilly air. Nowadays, however, only the morning chill remains, as the day and night are getting warmer.

I travel in bus everyday and buses are a treasure trove for those who love to study the twists and turns in human behaviour. Today I saw two incidents which I wanted to share here. At the first instance, the bus was full to the roof and everybody was half on top of another. A man accused a college boy of trying to steal his mobile phone from his shirt pocket just because the boy's hand accidentally brushed against his shirt. All men (!) threatened to thrash the boy though he said it was unintentional. The second incident happened a little later in another bus. A man told the conductor frantically that someone had stolen his money, new currency notes just got from an ATM, and even recited off the serial numbers. The conductor ordered the doors to be closed and told the driver to take the bus to Police Station. After a few minutes, the man found his notes on the floor. When a teenager got down, all started pointing fingers at him saying that he must have been the thief, of course wi...

Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art    - Pablo Picasso. Though I don't agree fully, it is true.

I read the below four-point solution for Africa's poor economic, social conditions: a. adopt as binding the principle of dialogue; b. ensure society's participation in public life; c. observe fundamental human rights; d. begin democratization. Now my question is, or rather my dilemma is, that as the above four points have failed in effectively changing the economic and social conditions of India, will they be able to change Africa? It is much more complicated with thousands of unique and entirely different, isolated tribes hostile to each other. I will explain in terms of India: a. we sure have dialogues, but they have failed in bearing practical fruits - whether in issues such as Kashmir or the north-eastern States; or in addressing problems such as naxalism or poverty. b. society's participation in public life is quite active, despite all the pessimism we feel in not being able to change the bureaucratic mindset through public participation, as a journalist I see ...

I normally don't write about the films I watch. Because most films fail to impress me. I feel films are like the maneyaata we used to play when we were young; someone plays the character of husband, someone wife, others children, servants, each day a new story, eating, sleeping, working, talking... They seem just dramatic and nothing else. But here I feel like talking about wo films. One was suggested to me by a friend - Spring, summer, fall, winter...spring. A simple almost-silent story of how life moves in cycles and how the inevitable always happens. It's better to watch it than read a review of it. So... Another very recent film is No one killed Jessica. I cannot write a review because it's not a story, it's too real to comment about - a full life gone waste. But I can surely tell one thing about the direction and acting. It's simple and genuine and undramatic. If you are searching for dramatics, you will not find it here and if you are thinking of a documenta...

I have great interest in psychology. And here I will tell of two small, insignificant incidents that are quite opposite. A person, who is well-off, found that the ink cartridge at his home printer was empty. He told his office boss about it and a staff was sent to his home to install a new one. The person who installed it had bought it in his own money. The office said it would not pay for it and the beneficiary is not ready to pay, though it was for his personal use. This is how the rich behave. Living off others' money. Yesterday evening I and my friend went to a roadside vendor to eat golguppa. The boy gave us 6 and we ordered for a plate of sukha puri. Along with the plate of sukha puri, he did not forget to give the normal 1 sukha puri that is usually given at the end of golguppa. We did not ask for it and let it go because we already got a plateful. But he gave us what we had paid for without hesitation, even if it was a tiny puri. These incidents may look small but I have...