The murder of reason

You live in this make-believe world wherein you tell yourself that goodness, truth, and justice prevail and the world is not such a bad place after all. You tell yourself that certain bad things only happen in movies, rarely in real life. Then comes the rude awakening!
I was shocked to read about Narendra Dabholkar's murder. He, the founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, was shot dead. Why? Was the act perpetrated just to shake our faith in goodness? It makes me sad and angry to know that there are people who kill so easily. He was among the few people in India who crusade for the cause of logic and reasoning. What a setback to progressive thought!
In the land of babas & babus, and politicians who promote superstition and kill scientific thinking to further their own ends, there are no takers for rationalism. The voice of rationalism has been feeble in this country and now, this is an attempt to completely throttle it.

Another life lost to a good cause; how I wish we need not have to lose a life for a cause!

Cold heart

Whether it's the joy of watching a leaf dance in the breeze or the sorrow of a childhood gone waste, there is a part of the heart that neither feels the joy nor the pain. It remains stoic, aware of the power of time. After all, what joy or sorrow can  tide over time? 

First day @ work: 3 versions

I got home all clammy, queasy and shaken. I shivered thinking about the ordeal and hid myself under a blanket. I tried to remove the dreadful sounds and sights out of my mind, however the coldness gripped me and i shivered again. I tried to smother the fear in my gut with food. But, the cold dark place kept haunting me till i found solace in sleep. Then I tossed and turned in sleep tormented by the sound of multiple keyboards, oh-so-intelligent conversations, the soporific meetings....
God! the traumatic experience of  my first day at work!!




Ah! the beautiful music emanating from the keyboards,  the soothing chatter of colleagues, the warm welcome smiles, the kind words, the vibrant vibe in the air, the industrious feel,  the excitement of productiveness, the confidence of purposefulness --- to work is such a joy! What an awesome feeling to be part of a creative process throbbing with constructive ambition! My beautiful first day at work!





Half-a-day spent filling up multiple forms confirming my birth, growth and stupidities. The next half spent grinning and looking all pepped up when all you wanted was to go to the loo; making small formal, semi-formal conversations; feeling like an idiot but trying to look like Mark Zuckerberg; looking around with bambi eyes for a comforting smile or nod; looking at the watch when no one's watching; trying to look busy; and then, finally walking out of that door, breathing in fresh air, and counting the days to the weekend, after that BIG first day at work.

She was a beauty!

Every trip to Kerala is like a visit to a critically-ailing friend. It leaves me feeling sad and helpless.
I flee from the city to my hometown in search of a connect with life. But i don't seem to find it anymore. Garbage mounds, increasing number of concrete buildings, commercialization, changing cultural ethos, and other disturbing changes make me uncomfortable. I no longer get to see the flora i associated with my village visits. Barren plots & dream homes have usurped the position of trees & paddy fields. Palatial houses and grotesque commercial complexes dot the landscape; there was a time when gigantic trees and bamboo groves were ubiquitous. The poverty of the land and people's mind is embarrassing as well as infuriating.
When you witness 'a thing of beauty' gradually fading away, you are privy to the cruelty of time and disagree with Keats that it is 'a joy for ever'. Like Keats i could live in the past and revel in the beauty that existed or be realistic and rue over the ugliness I see.

Evil rules

Year 2011
A girl, gangraped by a minister's goons, commits suicide. Her friend (the witness to the crime), who tries to get justice for her, is meted out the same fate by the same guys. She is raped and dies after being in a coma state for 6 months. The perpetrators, ex-Odisha agriculture minister pradeep maharathy's men, have political backing, of course!

2013
Justice in the case is still awaited, obviously! Would things have been any different even if these crimes were committed by some not-so-powerful guys? Maharathy resigned but the nonchalance and  arrogance with which he flaunted law is scary but not surprising any more.
This whole issue has faded away from the collective memory of the people and none will lose anything except for the people who already have.
My heart goes out to Brishti and Babina who had to undergo so much pain for no fault of theirs. I wonder why people say that the good always wins over the evil...

At the crossroad

Here i am - at the crossroad. A sign here reads- all roads lead to hell...