Dog Blogs Travel Trips

Puppy-sitting has taken its toll on me, and I've succumbed to the idiot box. Yes, I've been watching a lot of TV. And yes, I hate it. Regardless, I find myself glued to the TV on a regular basis, watching with fascinated horror all the ridiculously bejeweled women cribbing and indulging in complex plans of vengeance. As their husbands cavort with the caked-with-make-up ‘vamps’. That reminds me, I loathe how women feel the need to thwack on make-up at social dos while men get away with appearing in clean, ironed clothes! Bah! Anyway, getting back to TV…I blame my University degree in gender & culture, and my liberal parents who refused to indulge in gender biases because I am no longer able to enjoy even a dance ‘reality show’ without cringing at the ridiculous stereotypes being played out on a weekly basis. While TV has definitely matured since the days of ‘ Dostana ’, where homosexuality was openly depicted in mainstream, (though not celebrated, dammit!), uptight Bollyw...

One afternoon last monsoon, I strolled into Vagator Aunty’s place for fish thali, smiling at Aunty Acid who was already seated there. Her friend caught my eye. You know when you look at someone & know you know them, but are unsure how. Well, even though I feel that way all the time, I knew there was a story somewhere, when I recognized this girl. Palm fronds speckled with fire flies on a moonless night flashed like a photo. A large frog beside the commode. Goa? Shantiniketan. That small village type resort thing.  “I know you from somewhere”.  “Are you from Calcutta?”  “Yes…but that’s not where we met…ohhh….the safety pin!!” As a child, we’d once gone on a weekend trip to a typical Shantiniketan style eco-resort. I forget the name, but it was, at that time, very quaint, with a rustic, back to the old world village feel to it. Unless I’m confusing it with another place, it had a large pond in which another family staying there was swimming in one morning. T...