When signboards steal the show! The past fortnight has been heavy on the nation: the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam and the tense counter-operations that followed. Most of us were not on the frontlines, but our hearts were. The solidarity was silent yet strong; the anxiety was unmistakably real. What if … the worry nagged our minds. In moments like these, I often find myself wondering: how can I contribute, in my own small way, to the larger cause of the nation? After much mental gymnastics, I returned to the old, personal belief that perhaps, I can bring a smile to those around me. And what if those smiles come from a common feature, i.e., signboards: well-meaning but often misplaced, sometimes promising grand solutions to life’s problems, and yet unintentionally hilarious. Amidst the time of gravity, they bring to us a moment of levity. The unintentional cross over that he did not ask for. Move over pasta! The southern state of Kerala has the highest literacy rate, abo...
Age-Old Colours of Devotion Sharad Purnima (the Autumn full moon), Nathdwara painting, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution I hope life has been treating you all kindly since I last wrote. It is Janmashtami today, the birthday of Lord Krishna. Long ago, when Mani was posted in Varanasi, my three and a half-year old woke up on Janmashtami morning, delighted to know there was no school. “Why?” he asked. “Because it’s Bhagwan Krishna’s birthday,” I said. Only very recently had he discovered that birthday meant cake, junk food, colas, and his best friend Siddharth. The idea that God’s birthday could exist without a ‘budday paaty’ baffled him. I tried explaining that we humans celebrate it for Him, but he wasn’t having it. By noon, I was tired and out of arguments, and then God Himself came to my rescue. Mani called to say we were invited to the evening Janmashtami celebrations at the RPF (Railway Protection Force) barracks. That was a big weigh...
Thank you for being here! Something or the other is always happening somewhere in the world. But lately, it feels as if we are standing in front of a buffet of chaos, confused and indisputably, helpless. Just when you exhale with relief that people caught in forest fires which engulfed cities, are now safe, the earth does a Rudra Tandava (Lord Shiva’s dance of destruction) on Richter scale somewhere, turning fine buildings and shanties into rubble alike. One country is battling floods with submerged towns and fields, while in some other, people are looking heavenwards, praying for a few drops of water to quench the thirst of parched, cracking land. Natural disasters aren’t always our fault, the thought comforts your frightened, vulnerable mind, but the man-made ones, coming in thick and fast, are handcrafted by ambitious minds destroying the planet which still want to conquer Mars. Be politically correct and call what is happening between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine...
Take care, Anupama
ReplyDeletei will, thank you.
DeleteVery nice.
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