Completing what was unsaid for me

-
Blank paper seems difficul  to start writing on. One needs a blank paper to write and to me a blank paper seems like 'Now where do I start from?'Actually I know, I can start and write all that I want and what I want to create or plan, but I am not used to total freedom. I live by rules. I am proud to say I follow the law almost always. I feel society has norms which one must accept to make the running of the society smooth. I don't know what I would do with total freedom. My family and friends think I have a lot of freedom and in the strict sense I am not answerable to anyone. But I have lots of self imposed rules. When I write, there is a fear that if I have had a conversation which now I am penning down, I hope I am not hurting anyone. I definitely do not want to encroach on someone's private space but my writing for sure reflects my thoughts. The thoughts , views or opinions about certain things , area, people etc. None of this is sacrosanct and the final truth. Its just my version or my feel of what I consider. I am so caught up in my world that the rest is just my interpretation of it.

I want to complete some unfinished conversations with you. First that the service at California Pizza Kitchen Malad and Bandra was very good. The staff was polite and attentive. I had a very good experience with family and friends. Secondly, I do not agree with Shiv Sena's tactics to not vacate the park or even their demand for a memorial inside Shivaji Park. The government was kind enough to allow them the funeral at the park, which has upset so many walkers and temple goers. Now they are using arm twisting tactics and playing dirty. Thirdly, giving away prime land of Indu Mill to a political party is not really justified, when Mumbai is bursting in its seams. When the Shivaji Park renovation was done by BMC, they took three years to concretise the park more. Not a single tree was planted. Some were uprooted for sure. Ajit Pawar coming back to loot the people more. The games the politicians play and not to forget the cricketers and their selectors play. Sonia Gandhi should be now focussing on the IOC and other games. She is the Master of the Game. Liked Sidney Sheldon's novel by the same name. Introduced me to high life abroad, sex, money and all things vice. I thought it was the ultimate in Drama. Earlier "Pride n Prejudice" was what drama was all about. Nothing prepared me for the filth writing of Fifty Shades of Grey. Friends thought I had no sense of adventure nor a fun streak in me. I thought all public writing should be responsible. People are affected by it. In a world of less and less book readers, lots of them picked up EL James' book. Steig Larsson dying after writing  and before publishing,three sensational novels on Sweden, is scary. Fine line between reality and fiction. Felt bad for the painter Vardhan who passed away in France almost unrecognized. Have always liked Raza as I had a calendar with his paintings on my office desk in 1995. Wanted to frame those pics when I had my own house. Did not know that I could not afford a Raza even that time.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nange Paon in Navratri

-
When I was working and staying in the hostel, I kind of stopped believing in most festivals and rituals. I thought all this was some weird things which people did, it had no scientific base and why should I follow anyone. In the college hostel, vacations were time to go home and not connected with any festival except Diwali. Sophia College hostel was a cocoon in the heart of South Mumbai. The campus with an old palace building was a quiet oasis with trees and birds, in the mayhem of Mumbai. No festival touched it unless the college celebrated it. The Polytechnic had rock shows and one Dandiya night every year, which it soon stopped having by 1988. Only celebration was the Vegetable Biryani in lunch on Sundays. The Polytechnic hostel did not even believe in pampering the children with food. Memories of bread being there round the clock for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. For them, while the non vegetarians ate eggs for breakfast, the vegetarian had bread. And then when non vegetaria...
Read more

Shraddh period in Hinduism

-
According to the Hindu calendar, this is the shraddh period going on.  For fifteen days in a year, the ancestors are remembered and prayed to. No auspicious events / ceremonies take place in this time. People use the tithi/date of death to invite a Pandit and feed the departed soul. It means you remember the person passed away, give food to the Pandit and the crows. People keep a cooked meal on the terrace. They try to make the favourite food of the departed person. My memories are of my Grandma mixing and crushing all the savouries with her hands and when it was in form of  a paste, my Uncle would go to the terrace and throw the food for the crows. Crows in Hinduism are considered messengers of the departed souls. A lot of people feed Gathiyas to the crows for the full year. If your ancestors are happy, then your life goes well ,is the general belief amongst Hindus. The shraddh period falls exactly between Ganpati and Navratri. One does not buy a house or have...
Read more

Antakshari

-
Today we were playing antakshari at the Holi get together. We did not know any new songs so naturally only the golden melodies were being sung. The whole generation playing antakshari was singing the similar era songs on the alphabets they got. I realised a couple of things. In English language there is no game like Antakshari. How many sentences end with I or The? How can you sing when most songs start with I, The, Once, When and How?I cannot resist explaining the game, we all grow up with, in India. Antakshari means Ant : end , Akshar: alphabet ie last letter of the word. Akshar also means God. It also means God has the last word. Its a game with two teams and we call the teams as  'party'.  We say "Baithey baithey kya karein, karna hai kuchh kaam, shuru karo antakshari , le ka Hari ka naam." Translated from Hindi, We are sitting idle, lets do some work, lets start antakshari, starting with God's name. In Indian games, there is a lot of religion or belief in Go...
Read more