Desert Rose

She woke up every morning convincing herself that it is a good time to be. After all, most things come to her doorstep without her having to go out and get exhausted; There was enough content to watch on digital platforms – so much that she spent more time on the decision than actually watching; Education was taking interesting turns with alternative learning systems to beat the conventional ones – so now we’d see more kids on the block who crack life better than we did apparently; Innovation in design and technology blew her mind with every aspect of daily life getting so much easier; Equality, empowerment, tolerance and what not – everything is in the air or at least on social media; Medicine is developing at a good pace to deal with all the increasing sickness in this world; Mental health is being taken seriously and therapists are all over the place - so obviously happier people with sorted life; People are making conscious shifts to organic products, sustainab...

Bangalore mornings are on most days worth waking up to. I was out for my run at about 6am and the rays of the early morning sun pierced through a blanket of light fog. The wind was strong on my face and the green around was happy. Sleepy faces walking, jogging and running but most smiled as we crossed one another. The ground had a group of people with their mats laid out and doing yoga. I was not aware about the yoga day though. Later in the morning I was at the bus stop heading for work. The kids were there to catch their school bus and they were carrying mats too. Then the little girl told me it was yoga day. (Yeah. Ignorant me!) Usually on getting on to the bus, I spend about 10 minutes browsing on my phone – then I knew it was yoga day for sure. Thanks to the memes and trolls. Image Source: https://goo.gl/images/psgKUw It was a pleasant morning in the bus to watch all the kids and their parents waiting for their school bus with different colors of yoga mat. T...

We all have that WhatsApp group that is mostly asleep but when it wakes up, you have no choice but to mute it. So the same happened with one of the groups on my list a few days back. It kick started with reactions to the Telugu version of the Malayalam fame song ‘Malare’ and somehow drifted to reservation based on caste system. Participating in the discussion that followed, I got reminded of a time when I wished my father was a Latin Catholic and not a Syrian Catholic. I would have got that seat you know! I’m sure Jesus won’t care as much as the country did whatever I called myself. The constitution of India says all Indians are equal. Oh really? Reservation today is not just an affirmative action but has become a means for getting more and more benefits. As a matter of fact, the scope of reservation has enlarged to quite an extent. Oh so the backwardness has increased? It seems that nobody really cares about the welfare of the underdog but wants to gain a bit of th...

Being Indian. There is vagueness, a bit of confusion. I thought I wasn’t ashamed of it – of being an Indian, but was there pride? If yes, about what? History? Of what we have achieved in the past 20 odd years that I have witnessed and remember of?  I don’t know an answer to that.   So I thought, let’s think about pride and what it means to most of us. I realized eventually that to have an answer to this confusion, one needs to decide on what is actually meant when one says “Indian” or “Being Indian”.   I came to the conclusion that we confuse 'Ethnicity Indian' with 'Citizen Indian' at most times. This eventually leads to our idea of nationalism which in turn leads to patriotism and all the like. Ethnicity adds a new dimension. With ethnicity, there is suddenly a few thousand years old history and culture. Are we all proud of that? Aren’t we all taught to be proud of that? And I came up with something that I thought made sense. (of course! I would suppor...

I sat alone, apart from my own twin that we all carry in our heads; alone in the corner being able to observe everyone in the cafe.  Wooden floor boards & wall panels with simply deep quotations & abstract framed art work.  Too much of calm inside that compensates for all the rush outside.  I sat in my corner, reading over tea & waiting for my cake. Other guests came in, sometimes alone & sometimes not ; some of them knew each other while some did not. I tried to make friendly eye contact so I could initiate a smile that might start a ‘good evening to you’ or a ‘hello’. Mostly their eyes would avoid mine while they sorted out where they were going to sit & what they were going to order & of course replying to texts in between all this. Now they had no reason to say ‘good evening’ because to say it then would have been out of place, the meeting having already occurred some minutes earlier. So, no gestures or smiles of acknowledgeme...

An encounter : An 8th standard girl who is expected to be all smiles and happy during her evening play hours caught my attention as she wasn’t doing the expected. She sat in a corner, fiddling with something and stared. Something about her disturbed me and I managed to befriend her. One day as I stood up to leave, she told me that her mother was strict and had no time to listen to her. And I smiled and assured her that I would listen whenever she needed. As I walked away, I said a prayer that let her not have anything that I fret to tell me. The very next day, as usual, after my work, I caught up with her. It was always more of a monologue. I kept talking about various things and she continued staring with occasional glances. That day when I stood up to say bye, she held my hand and said “I don’t like my father.” My heart sank because I dreaded something of this sort coming up. I held her close and the story she told me, I’d like to keep to myself. She is taken care of today. Oh,...

For more than a year now, I’ve been travelling by train to my native on a weekly basis and been crossing the vast expanse of land adjoining the Cochin International Airport. Initially, when I saw people at work and panels, I thought it was some airport extension business but now I know that Cochin was prepping to mark its place in the world history, technically. When stray dogs and their ‘rights’ or freedom to kiss in public or a celebrity’s wedding can take up so much attention and writing space, I thought this definitely deserved a little more attention than just a headline - “India’s Cochin is the World’s First Solar-Powered Airport”. If  humanity is to survive , it's going to have to embrace alternative forms of energy and ditch carbon  at  a real fast pace. India's making a pretty big stride in that direction after declaring Cochin International Airport as the world's first facility of its kind that runs entirely on  solar power . So I am jus...

Me. Sitting by the window seat of the train. Staring out with every possible random thought running in my head. The boy.   Six to seven years of age I believe. Walking ahead of his parents and halts in front of me. He shows me the ticket and in broken malayalam asked if I could guide him with the seats and I did it right away. But I looked at the parents who stood behind him with a complete blank expression and to me it looked like they didn’t care to step up and do what elders are supposed to do. Even before I could finish processing the thought, I saw the boy using his hands and making gestures to talk to his parents. And then the father and mother told each other something the same way and they three walked towards their seats. I sat there, disappointed with myself. I got reminded of a line that I read somewhere - “It is amazing, the quality of human beings; we can just get past people not dressing the way we want them to dress.” 

Situation: Guy almost 30. Matrimonial websites. Photographs *woot*. Details *deciphering the good family*. Call. Meet. Say “yes” over tea, coffee, snacks or whatever. Then go back home and complain about the taste of things served there before going ahead with the wedding preparations. (Oh and the best part, every tom, dick and harry has the right to judge the girl by her looks and the family by the salt or masala in the food served!) We all know what I’m writing about. Yes. One thing that has always been held high by India like a shining trophy – the institution of marriage and customs that believe in tethering two people together for life.  Alert: This is not the usual – Which is better? Arranged or love. No that’s not the point. The Biting Wit If you have a daughter and a son, you expect your daughter to be given all the freedom as far as career, fashion, lifestyle etc. are concerned but you want your son to bring home someone who will take care of the ...

All that noise. The hassled scenes. So much of dirt and garbage. Unpleasant smell dominating the air. Every face showing different emotions. Every frame giving me ideas of a little tale . Just a whole lot of chaos but that is the world’s largest railway network.  Every time I take a train in India, there is something or someone that gets me thinking. Never the less I always enjoy my dates with the Indian trains. From “this is my seat” arguments, to “may I sit here till the next station” requests. From making acquaintances during long journeys, to being freaked out by drunk locals in a rather empty compartment.  From trying to catch a train that almost started, to jumping out on late  realization  about the destination arrival.  From shifting legs and luggage continuously to escape the cockroaches, to getting used to them moving around.  6 years of living here and travelling around has been much more than just seeing places. A...

The above image reflects what runs through most of our minds when we hear ‘vacation at Goa’. But for desert rose it was much more! Ever since I joined university for under graduation, I have made several trips to different parts of the country and of course each one of it was memorable in its own ways. So then the question would be why a blog entry only about this trip? Guess reading this will give you the answer. Each of my previous trips has made me realize how much more India has than what we think. Be it the grandeur of architecture, breath taking natural beauty, varied cultures, traditions & lifestyles, amazing markets both day & night, myths & stories and so much more. But when I reached Goa, it took a while to take in the fact that it was part of India. A state so much part of this country but way different… way liberal… and to put it in the language of youth, way cooler! A place where having beer instead of water to quench your thirst feels the same...

For the first time since the Mumbai terror attacks, I felt that shiver down my spine. Even before I got time to take in the Connecticut school massacre , there comes the next – everyone saying ‘gang rape’ but from what I have been reading, this isn’t rape – it’s far worse!  This is not to say that other tragedies have left me untouched . It’s just that what scares me more than anything else is the inhuman face of terror, brutality and cold blooded cruelty. Even I belong to the student community where travelling through different transportation systems, through all kinds of places and most importantly at very odd timings is a necessity . Whenever I step out, I have this feeling – it is cool. . what can happen .. my friends are also there.. I will be fine etc etc. Probably my mother’s sleepless nights in prayers while am travelling has kept me safe so far – I don’t know! She stepped out that day like always.. Am sure she spend some happy time with her ...