Scribblings of an Oxaanto Electron

Even the presence of three women in the three top posts of the Parliament-Speaker Meira Kumar, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj could not help in the passage of the Women Reservation Bill on the 21st of February last. Feminists believe it to be an unfair deal. They had been fighting for it since 1996! The 18 year old journey had seen high drama, frayed tempers, war of words as it hit many roadblocks. They believed it would be the epitome of Women Empowerment. If we look back, we shall see that this bill was initially rejected by women representatives in the Constituent Assembly. They felt it was unnecessary since the working of democracy in its normal course would surely ensure the representation of all sections of the Indian Society. I am against reservation per se and I have my reasons. Reservation can never be the best way to achieve the goal of empowerment. It just ends up being divisive, deepening the chasm between the different...

Life hurls these weird complications at you sometimes, when feel trapped, between the devil and the deep blue sea. Thats when you need to take a leap of faith! And thats when you realise if those whom you have depended upon, catch you or just watch you drop into the abyss. And that is why sometimes, complications 'acche hotey hain'  That is one helluva silver lining, I tell you!

I wish i could take you to that place in jubilee hills whr we used to spend all our winters! The mess...the cricket...the rangolis...the fruit juice and the dosa and the new year eve parties wid the attendants of patients admitted thr! The trips to charminar market, buying trinkets and junk jewellery...the colourful bangles! The 'sewaiyya', the smell of preparations for iftar! Pehir ghr at Banjara hills and the drives with peha, looking for ice cream at night, after dinner. The ride in peha's Cielo was what i cherished more thn the ice cream! Secundrabad station, vijaywada...that pungent smell typical to trains! Tarmarind rice at Balasore...the amazingly huge chilka lake, poorie sabjee at kharagpur...travelling second class on the return journey upto howrah, every year. Mom's idea, she loves second class and has handed that down to me! I love hyderabad and all the memories associated with our journeys to that city! Everything, from the museums to the parks and the hospi...

Found this in my files today...something i had written sometime back...in a hurry... I will not defend them and say that they are victims. Despite the fact that most of them are here facing compulsion...they were lured by the money, the money which they need to provide a decent home to their impoverished families. They are now the living proof to the ever booming business of commercial sex in the gateway to the Northeast. Its not like we never knew about what goes on in some pockets of the city. Places like Pandu, Kalapahar, Paltanbazar, Rajgarh, Ganeshguri, Nabin Nagar or Beltola come alive every night. Its not like we never noticed the salwar kameez clad lady at the bus stop near the Judges Field, in the evenings. It has been just about a decade since she picked that vantage point! But we choose to feign ignorance. We want to believe that our brothers, uncles, boyfriend, husband or father would never notice them! Why do they stand at those particular spots then, night after nig...

She was pretty excited at the prospect of travelling across the 1900 odd kilometres. Its not like she had never been there, but this time, it was different! She was a different person now! Completely transformed. She had that spring in her step, that dazzling smile and those radiant eyes that no beauty treatment can bring! She would be on her way in a few minutes and she couldn't help but imagine the amazing time she will have once she reaches there! She was already imagining the hug she will get and the smile she would see on his face the moment he spotted her! His embrace was where she longed to be. She never wanted to let go! Its has been just about ten sundays since they had first met. It seemed like many lifetimes had elapsed! She could just sit and look into those honest ever smiling eyes for hours at end listening to him recite tales from the twenty eight years of his life, he always had so much to speak and he could make her laugh till her sides ached! His dreams were n...