starry night

There was this work area behind my kitchen where I believed time flowed slowly. So I thought if I stayed there long enough hours, years or even decades could pass.  When I was child  I sometimes messed up things in school.  I would go to this work area in hopes of time passing by. Somehow in my brain I thought if I stayed there long enough my parents wouldn't shout at me.  But of course they find you. And time doesn't work like that. But I still carry this tendency to add magic to my daily mundane life. If it can be called magic. It can be horror at times as well.  In fact I remember mangoose coming out of the hole near our banana plant. I thought the mongoose represented all that was evil in this world. Every cause has an advocate. Mangoose was the advocate for evil.  But sometimes things went really bad. And you really can't stay in the work area and hope time passes and time heals you. At these times I always hear this sound  which I can only descri...

I. Sara  met Rajan on a Tuesday morning toward the start of her final year . She was working on touching up her final project in the classroom . He came and sat next to her, his project was titled “the unusual life of judges ”  "That's an unusual choice," she said. "I don't think I've ever seen a title as interesting as that ." Let's strike up a conversation here, she thought , this assignment was boring anyways , and she did think that Rajan was interesting-looking. Not so striking that she would notice him in a room full of people , but enough in the right situations. He was tall, but was lean, too lean and he had this look that he was hiding something.  Rajan did not pick up on her attempt to talk .  If he did he showed it by making His eyes look as if it was focused elsewhere. “OK let me submit this”,he mumbled and left.  . They had to work on a  small project together, there were plenty of jokes. He was very clever. She didn't get into any p...

 There is an awkwardness that accompanies communication . Once we were on a trip to silent valley, the accommodation was provided by forest officers. There was only a metal shutter separating the two groups. If you could slowly push up the shutter without waking everybody up, you could possibly talk to the people on the other side.  I once tried to write a letter to London, but then what was I supposed to do write. Later I realized sending letters to London was costly. Moreover they would take some time. In the midst of all this, one of my friends' father passed away unexpectedly. I personally knew this person and expected him to welcome me and call me a unfocused tall guy yet suddenly one morning he was absent. It was as if he was never there.  Video calls with people who are not near you are awkward. There are also problems caused by being in different timezones. These words and calls and talks are the problem. Maybe I should move away from my hometown and be near th...

 I was tasked with writing the history of India by an old man in the street. There was no street per se, I am talking about the road that led up to the St Mary’s Basilica In Marine Drive Kochi. This old man was homeless and naked and smelled. There was dirty dhoti beside him that could cover his nakedness.  Romantic India  India, for the foreigners is the land where people find themselves. It is intriguing and mysterious. One remembers the hoardes of white brown and red foreigners following Sadhguru Jaggi in Isha and one wonders are they actually here to find themselves?  Or are they just here because they want to say to their friends you know I went to South India to find myself. I observed all of this while drinking Coffee which was obviously not recommended in yoga . I saw a friend reading Midnights Children and wondered what is so magical about India?. India is portrayed as this magical exotic land.  A British man and a Pakistani man’s blood is the same, it...

  Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs Union of India 2024 (ongoing)  The present case is a public interest litigation filed by one Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking the striking down of the act.  The said act was passed by the Parliament in 1991. The object of the act is to protect the status of the places of worship as it stood in August 15 1947. The act provides an exemption for Ram Jan bhoomi Dispute and except that specific dispute all disputes regarding the status of the places of worship shall cease to exist. The arguments advanced by the petioner is that the said act is violative of Article 14. This act brings an arbitrary classification. Moreover dissolving existing disputes without hearing is violative of principles of natural justice.  The intervenors have called for a stricter implementation of the act. Citing that places of worship act explicitly prohibites suits ascertaining relgious character.  It has said that there is multiple suits whether it be in gyanvapi ...

These are part of a selection of stories that have been gathered from conversations I had  with friends, acquaintances and strangers. I have grouped together the stories  which have a common theme.The following stories have been a gentle reminder for me to be a kinder human, something which I sometimes fail at. All of these stories are real. Now you know them too.  1989-90 . Mumbai near Kamathipura Roby Antony, 21 old aspiring graphic designer  is penniless and crying . There is a malayali mess house nearby run by a man named Shankar. The young man cries lamenting the situation he is  in. An unnamed friend barges into the room. It is unclear whether he heard him crying. Incidentally he asks him whether he had eaten lunch, to which Roby said no. Both of them went down and ate at Shankar’s. As he was leaving Roby realizes this unnamed friend also did not have money but due to his relation with Shankar he could put it in his credit. Into the due amount the unnamed ...