..yours randomly!

(This article was first published on IndiaResists.com at following link  http://www.indiaresists.com/the-still-glowing-embers-of-dadri ) The still glowing embers  of Dadri Meha Khanduri Some right wing politicians and their supporters have expressed their astonishment at the long shelf life of the Dadri lynching, pointing the blame at the Indian media. What they mean is that in a country where life is cheap and heinous crimes take place every minute, continuous public chatter about Dadri has to mean that the small incident is being blown out of proportion by an opportune greedy media. However, for once I don’t think the media is to blame; they are merely reflecting the real horror being felt in Indian society and international circles.  Every nation has such incidents which manage to shake up the collective conscience of its people, regardless of their size. One such was when Rosa Parks refused to sit at the back of a bus, signifying the collective humil...

(An edited version of this article was published in The Lucknow Tribune.) On the road towards Muzzafarnagar, my eyes somehow expect to see desolation associated with the name in recent times, but the cheery road flanked by the green sugarcane fields could be straight out of a Karan Johar film. Small shops, dusty roads, the local mithai shop with colorful character next to us eating an entire plateful of ladoos. Finally, we reach our destination… a field in the middle of nowhere. A simple board “rahat shivir-Jolla” takes us into enter the typical IDP (internally displaced people) camp: tents from Oxfam, women sitting outside in the sun, outdoors kitchens. Except it is not a relief camp; it doesn’t exist officially; the state govt claims that there are no refugees and everyone has returned to their homes. So the nearabout 150 families living here don’t exist in official records and the camp is run by charities and NGOs who give them food and shelter. As soon as we enter, we are ...

Delhi: The only city in the world where people boast of other people's money. :D..in the last couple of months of staying here, I've noticed, s typical conversation runs like this: "Driver: this is the kothi(mansion) of millionaire XYZ. I know them well. They are spending 15 crores in their daughter's wedding. Me: Ah! (surprisedly) Old aunty: I dont know what my old neighbor's son is doing but he's making billions. Probably a smuggler. They've become v big.They love me like family, thought they don't meet me any more. me: Oh! (weakly) Me: So can I find traditional food of the city in the old delhi area? Stylish lady: I don't know. my friends only go to 5 star hotels. Me: Ah! (bemusedly) Substitute connections to the powerful, instead of millions and billions..and you've covered the entire gamut of conversation of Delhiities. SIGH!!! (obviously all delhi is not like that..but enough to pander to the stereotype. :)

(Blogging about some of my interesting experiences during my India trip this year...) 1. Gharonda: The Nest In India, poverty is so ubiquitous that it becomes invisible. What catches the eye is the new wealth: the dazzling malls, the exclusive brands and the middle class Indian’s ability to spend more money than their parents could ever dream of. A recurring encounter with poverty comes in the form of street children who descend like locusts at each traffic signal. With their skeletal bodies dressed in rags they beg and beg with hollow eyes for money or sell flowers and magazines. After a few initial encounters, they too become a part of the unseen. One of the most impressive people I met in India was a rosy cheeked, smiling young woman in my hometown Lucknow! We found out that we’d even gone to the same school, Loreto Lucknow, though she was a couple of years behind me. A young mother herself, Shachi runs an NGO called Ehsaas, which rehabilitates such street children. ...

The age of social networking via the internet has created deep social dilemmas. Till now, whenever you disliked a person, all you had to do was to pretend they didn't exist / avoid talking if thrown together / or in the worst case scenario exchange vague pleasantries and depart with an insincere "lovely-meeting-you". You congratulated yourself on passing the litmus test from your mom's manner book combined with a pleasant feeling of relief at not having to meet for another decade or four. The other party was oblivious that you'd been slinking into dark corners and jumping off bridges rather than meet them (or so you thought) ...and all was well with the world. But now there is Facebook and anybody can send you a friend request! And the thought of having them on your friend list getting minute to minute details of your fascinating life--(meha...is eating chips while listening to U2) the quizzes you take ('what kind of vegetable are you?') and your pr...

I got my SO a pup for Valentine day. And now my life has become a misery. I have to point out that I was honest from the start. I told SO that I love dogs but am grossed out by poop picking. So the deal was that he will do the poop picking while i do the grooming, cuddling, loving, food-giving aunt bit. Though SO has pitched in to do the poop picking it's me who has been driven nuts. In the 5 days since she's been with us --she has bitten, scratched, chewed and peed inside. (though never pooped inside..coz of course that would make life difficult for SO whose job it is). She wails and barks when put inside her crate; eats and pees when put out of the crate; and has dug a hole in the neighbour's compost pile when I take her outside to play. My vocabulary has become limited to "No Bessie!" and my neighbours see me day in and day out as a wild eyed harridan with hair sticking out (she loves to chew my hair), dressed in a mangy coat and chewed up slippers (she lo...

Twit: - Slang- A foolishly annoying person. (Definition free online dictionary) For months I ignored the hype around Twitter. But I'm a sucker for enticing looking boxy spaces which ask me confidential questions. So when the box at the Twitter website cooed like a particularly pleasant dove and invited me to confide in 140 characters: "what are you doing?"... I gave in. And wrote my first tweet: - "Should twitter users be called twits?" "101"--replied the box. (FYI -"101 means the number of characters left.) I thought my first tweet with its clever pun on the word 'twit’ was great but the rest of the Twitterati decided otherwise. It ignored me. Now if it had been FB or OS I'd have posted a dictionary definition of the word 'twit' as slang (as I have above :) but really there are not many definitions you can write in 140 characters. I thought of writing another tweet explaining the definition of 'twit' and the pun on '...

This India trip was a series of arguments. I felt like a inept solitary ninja wielding my sword against a huge group of fighters closing in on me. The arguments centered around whether the Muslims in India are radicals/terrorists and what should be their fate. Indians i met, (read middle class educated Hindus) are convinced that all Indian Muslims are jihadis or on their way to become one! Most of the arguments are something which one has heard since the time of ramjanmabhomi movement (they cheer for pakistan in cricket matches, fundamentalist etc) and heard from the hardliners of BJP/VHP/Bajrang Dal/modi etc (all are terrorists and out to get us). While the former is plain silly the latter is both unfounded and a generalization. But this time what is scary is that more middle class common Indians seem to be agreeing. Fewer liberal voices are protesting! But the clinching argument often comes from the news of another bomb blast done by some radical group. Another worrisome point is tha...

did you see yahoo's time capsule? and did you notice anything? But first, for those people who actually have a life beyond the internet and are clueless about the time capsule here is the summary: So yahoo wants the future generations to know what 2006 was all . So they want you to "..contribute photos, writings, videos, audio ...drawings ... favorite blog, web site, or podcast. (i assume that this knowledge will not include google's rising profits or yahoo's dwindling ones). It will then be beamed into space and given to the smithsonian museum, where it will be reopened in 2020. Note they give the freedom to put in anything ...as long as it is a potrait of the present to the future. well, you'd think that the netizens would freak out and pour in their passionate hates and cravings.--"Islamophobia, jesus saves, pictures of pamela anderson"....endless possibilities. But wonder of wonders....what do most people put? a pix of the person they love most in the...

I had an talk with an educated, intelligent human being today. Just the mention of human rights activism seemed to arouse his greatest ire. I wondered why! He did not seem to be angry with people who killed other people, or with exploitation or racism or anything which he personally may have been a victim of. His greatest anger is reserved for the ‘activist’; who at the most may be indirectly trying to better his life, do his environment some good, make the world a more secure place for his children or at the very worst can be counted as a harmless eccentric who will never be able to harm him. (Through free will or circumstances or lack of monetary resources). I have often noticed that the same intense anger displayed by other people when confronted with individuals or organizations who may be trying to do the world some good (however misguided it may be). Not disagreement, not sarcasm—just intense passionate anger. This led to a related thought. Has somebody ever realized that it is t...