I AND MY WORDS

Catch me now on SoundCloud as well. I put up my thoughts today on election trends and weigh in my thoughts. Listen to Friday Election Musings by HoldsASharpPen #np on #SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/holds-a-sharp-pen/friday-election-musings

Some time back, I was sitting in a posh, upscale restaurant in South Delhi, when I noted that one of India’s leading ‘intellectuals’, Arundhati Roy, had stepped in with a friend, and ordered perhaps one of the priciest things on the restaurant’s menu. It was quite interesting to note that she did not step out even once, given her bleeding heart for the poor and disadvantaged of India, to even share a part of that meal with a slew of beggars that walked around the market, let alone invite one of them to dine with her and her friend. Her friend too was evidently one of those white people tasked with searching poverty and atrocity stories in India – it was, as they say in the ‘cowbelt’ of India, a truly Ram Milayi Jodi.  Cut to a few months back. I was dining, thanks to familiar people, with the head of one of India’s premier think tanks. All I heard was that Modi had destroyed India’s inclusive fabric, and the grave tone adopted by him and his wife seemed to suggest that lynch mob...

I find it weird that I want to be a writer and yet shy away from putting up my own writing works for promotion. Going for self e-publishing in some ways was an easy escape from the nervous wrecking that rejection possibly could have created within me. However, I wonder sometimes if I am even worthy to be a writer. Besides, what constitutes good writing? I never had an answer to that question. So long as I could feel connected to a book, I felt it was good. Anyhow, I had sometime back released an eBook version of a short novel I had written. I had intended in some ways to tell the story of the hill people in some ways through a paradigm of fiction and realism, with elements that some may find problematic at best and exotic rubbish at worst. However, in more ways than one it was an attempt to reconnect with my own ancestry, understanding where I come from, where my parents come from. Call of the Hills was a tribute to many people I have known over years and loved, and I thought that...

One of the major ways to scuttle discussion in any reasonable format is to confuse the discourse. Of course, it does it help when the party to the discussion is itself incoherent in its positioning and stance on things and instead chooses to be reactionary. Reactionary isn't necessarily bad; it is however an exhibit of perceived weakness and a positive example of lack of preemption on the part of the exhibitor to see potential challenges emerging to its presence. What complicates it further is the presence of a certain level of fluidity - an overall structural body is not merely enough often times to get the desired level of coherence in discussion. This makes arguments stand oftentimes on slippery slopes -  you may feel your own position weak and against intuition. However, this shifting sand also allows us to fabricate positions and answers that can help to justify things seemingly off mark. It is essential to remember that the outer bounds is just a starting point of your pos...

एक सूनापन है इस बेज़ार ज़िन्दगी में एक अधूरापन का सीने में एहसास है तेरी यादों का साया रहता है मुझपे हरदम बस कैसे भी तेरे आने की एक अधूरी आस है तुझसे जुदाई का दर्द तड़पाता है हर पल तेरी आवाज़ फिर सुनने की एक चाह है एक रोज़, हर रोज़ तू फिर मिल जाए मुझे इस दिली ख़्वाहिश ने आज ली परवाज़ है इस उजड़े चमन को कौन बाग़बान संभालेगा जहाँ ग़म के काँटो से सजी अब हर एक रात है कौन आएगा मेरे चश्मे नम को पोंछने आज किस मरहम से रुकता ज़ख्म से रिसता लहू है एक सूनापन है इस बेज़ार ज़िन्दगी में एक अधूरापन का सीने में एहसास है तेरी यादों का साया रहता है मुझपे हरदम बस कैसे भी तेरे आने की एक अधूरी आस है

Sripuranthan Nataraja (courtesy: The Hindu) Colonialism and imperialism, as the leftists would often argue, continues to manifest itself in many ways, even as the colonies are long gone. A fundamental manifestation in today's times are these galleries, museums and private collections dotting the global art landscape. Sujit Sivasundaram in his book ‘ Islanded’ had noted how the Britishers tried very hard to occupy the place of the Tri-Simhala Kandyan Kings of Sri Lanka by undertaking grand projects of legitimacy. One aspect of that was the blatant cultural appropriation by the British to show themselves as patrons of art through two primary ways - commissioning art works for their own glorification akin to the kings, and also to 'restore and protect' heritage of the past of the occupied lands. Further, much damage was undertaken in many colonies - the Taj Mahal was also up for sale but for the pittance being received for its 'inferior' marble. One standard wa...

The Sabarimala Shrine of Lord Ayyappa The Sabarimala case concerning the entry of women into the inner sanctum of the temple took a dramatic turn today, with the Indic Collective's J Sai Deepak, Ayyappa Seva Sangham's Kailashanatha Pillai and a bevy of others arguing effectively on the question of the custom's validity, constitutional rights of the living deity and the peculiar nature of Kerala society and the reasons why this entire case stands no ground. Suffice to say, the question of equality, morality and what constitutes right to freedom of religion has been fundamentally shaken in terms of the judges' core belief, and this will cast a long shadow on future judgments in matters related to administration and the jurisprudence of Hindu temple and matha traditions. While the final judgment is yet to be announced, the entire case has brought back into light the role of several vested stakeholders, especially the state controlled organizations running temples a...