Dog Blogs Travel Trips

'In the end of the day...the world has changed' We got pulled over by a young Kannadiga couple yesterday on the way to office. Obviously distressed, they mumbled in broken English that they'd come to Goa on vacation, lost their wallet, family can't send money, they were from a small village, could we lend them something? They promised names, addresses, phone numbers & to pay us back at the soonest. Broke after a series of misfortunes with disobedient ATMs & thefts in our homes, we offered to help them call family at the most. They asked the way to the nearest police station, and before we could get to the bike to escort them, they'd fled. 'we desire our fate, we sit and pray' I've been contemplating meditation, to escape inconvenient realities. To distance myself from wickedness. Long swims in the sea, long conversations in the moonlight, nothing seems to change the harsh reality that people are simply ignorant and nothing you do can cha...

I write this today with a deep sense of sadness, anger and helplessness. Animals in India have lost a warrior, who, by his actions, has cheated them of a chance for survival. Yes, I say cheated Sanjay, because I'm very very pissed off.  In 2011 I was living in Delhi, training to be fund raiser for an animal shelter. Part of my job entailed having a good idea of existing infrastructure, so I requested that I be allowed to visit their permanent shelter in the outskirts of Gurgaon. Permission was granted and I found myself bouncing along a dusty road to a tiny village far far away from suave, slick Delhi.  Large iron gates welcomed me, and I say welcomed, because they sure were friendlier than the rest of the staff there! I was shown around the enclosures for the domestic animals rather grudgingly and finally, unsatisfactory tour over, I was asked in a rather 'please-say-no' tone, "Would you want to see the wildlife section?" Intrigued, I agreed, and tr...

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...

Many many years ago, I decided that it was time for me to move out of Calcutta. Coolest choice in option was Pune. So I traipsed along, across the country, to this gorgeous city I later went on to adopt as one of my many 'homes'. After getting lost several times over, I finally found the Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule Women's Studies Centre, (the department of Gender Studies). I fell in love with the name to begin with. Still in my throes of utopian dreams of changing this nation, I quivered with thrills that I would perhaps be at a Centre which began with the name 'Kranti'. (I later found out it was named after someone and not for the purpose of fueling rebellion but more on that later!) At the Centre, I found the orientation room, and was doing a quick dekko across the room, when this vision strode in.. sylph-like, clad in black..all black..the short shorn hair had a sheen of henna…and the eyes…the eyes were deeply shadowed, sunken, and looked at you like she co...

Sometimes, you find yourself drifting through a big bunch of uncontrollable situations, all piled up together, and you find yourself wondering if there’s supposed to be a moment when you just combust in a glorious burst of epiphany and solve your shit. Yup, I've been reading Dave Besseling’s ‘ The Liquid Refuses to Ignite ’ and my traipse around the country seems to be reflecting every glorious word he’s penned. I've been indulging in another of my middle-class attempts at identifying that oh-so-elusive ‘Purpose in Life’ and this book has been partner & companion fueling my imagination with every wistful thought or pretense of being any nearer to identifying Purpose. I've borrowed heavily from Besseling’s concepts here, because he speaks of incidents & experiences like I might have and I justify it with a friend’s [i] words – ‘we have all the answers within us, sometimes we just need to hear other people say it.’ Am currently parked i...

My mom always says that people come into our life when our karma, destiny, what-you-may-call-it, feels the need for that person to be there. So when I moved to a new place, the mad Mallu was there. And before him, the English girl who adopted India. And the star sozzled philosopher. And after them there was the bouncy boisterous lil boy. It's been a year, and they have either gone, or are about to go. And I know what mom will say if she knew how sad I were about them leaving - "Life goes on." Yeah, life does go on. I’ve left behind friends and family in other places. On the rare occasions when we do meet, I just know for sure how crucial their advice and judgment has been in my life over the years. Not because I perhaps hero worship some of them a little bit, but simply because having them around means there’s someone saying to me, "It's ok, shit happens, we'll figure out how to fix it, let's go play in the sand till we do."  All of us cl...