Never known

Never the nausea knocked me up

Not the sun rays keep us up

Never the stupor dulls the rattled mind

Never never , 

Always in an anxiety

Always an exhaustion

To keep living,  to keep alive to live 

The reason is yet never known

Not to Kafka, nor to Virginia 

Always to drown in the depths of water to up float

Peace

 I dreamt a day of peace

Peace that isn't tedious,

Place that isn't lethargic

Quite that isn't haunting

Love that isn't  hurting

jungle of humans

Can we escape the Holocaust in our minds?

Can we shed our hatred ever see human as a human?

Can we ever focus on being a part of the nature?

Was it ever "human" a good word? 

Was it to cover the "inhuman" nature of human? 

Perhaps human is inhuman

Being inhuman is a good exception from the mindless jungle of beasts , NO. Rotten jungle of humans. 

we are nuts

We are  nuts

 No way to know what is truth

No one wants to know

Vultures can post hate comments

Politicians can abuse women openly

But one sentence of criticism against govt, people are arrested 

We have gone nuts

People are yet celebrating this gundagiri. 

Much like the happy smiles of Germany when Jews were leaving for concentration camps. 

We aren't far away from that

We are nuts.

The Dissent Dispute

In a large democracy, the modern 21st era, where India is trying to establish its mark on mars and moon, Indians are trying hard to keep democracy together. Democracy is not just a political governance structure rather it is also an attitude and sensibility. Now in the social media-dominated times, and politically polarised society, India is caught in a communication crisis. One does not know the difference between freedom of speech and verbal abuse. It is polarised chaos that on one hand, people are scared to express their opinions in person, on the other hand, on virtual platforms people are ready to troll and abuse!

The Disagreement and Disrespect Factor

 In India, there is inculcated and deep-rooted culture where children are not supposed to oppose the opinions of elders, it’s often seen as great offence and disrespect. It is often considered to be mannerless to question or disagree with elders. It is a highly problematic attitude that makes society a place where dissent, an offence. Ironically, dissent is in-fact a strong tenet of democracy. Such an attitude often binds a society with fear rather than freedom. It has almost become that people do not know how to disagree politely. The majority of the media news channels are encouraging such an attitude where a debate often turns ugly for TRPs, reinforcing that disagreement should lead to personal attack or hatred. Such nature is creating a vicious environment in a society where people who disagree with each other do not know how to communicate with civility, causing damage to the democracy framework that India has carefully built over years. There should be a change in society 's norms where children are encouraged to question and disagree, but with respect. Children need to engage in debates, need to be taught how to disagree with civility.

The Anonymous Avatar

Many people now seek social media to abuse other people who have different opinions. It’s unfortunate that we are not taught to embrace multiple points of view and we are not taught disagreeing with someone need not necessarily have to result in hating that person. The virtual world is increasingly becoming a huge integral part of society. The internet or social media not only gave wings to fly but also gave many people a platform to troll and abuse. Anonymity helps people to not fear the consequences of shame for abusing or making fun of someone. Children now are widely exposed to technology. To resolve this, Rather than focusing just on restricting the platform, which could complicate things furthermore, it is important to combine social media etiquette in the studies and education. Children or even adults need to be taught the differences among freedom of speech, trolling, constructive criticism, and personal attack.  

Heaving to learn to disagree with civility, learning to constructively criticise are not just to protect democracy but also for the true advancement of the society that is not just in technology but to 

 build a healthy society that can handle multiple diverse opinions without breaking into violence.

                                                                                                                                      Deepthi N

a day in London

A place where past and present coexist is London. The historical castles, victorian houses take us back to the colonial time. In central London, when one sees rickshaw and “merc” (mercedes-Benz)  on Leicester square they are reminded of the coexistence. My day in London began with the amazement of multiculturalism. One gets to see the diverse nationalities around. And as an Indian we somehow get excited to see a fellow Indian, we talk and connect with other Indians that we would never have done in India. Familiarity and depending on the familiarity in a foreign land becomes important norm and culture there. 

UK evokes emotions depending on the season. In a typical summer day, it is sunny, peppy, with the flowers around and of course with bustling people. There is something that London has, and no other place in UK has. That is crowds. People always flutter about the city, that an Indian who is used to noise and crowds feels home right away. The systematic conveyance to the entire city made me feel calm and composed. The culture in London is extremely friendly. When I could not make out a station platform, the station staff was patient enough to explain not just to me, to everyone who asked. Being polite to each other is not only customary rather mandatory behaviour in London. Another peculiar behaviour that should be appreciated is that London people mind their own business. They do not stare or make you feel out of the place, only thing is in public places, one needs maintain the silence.  

Without any doubt, the best part of London is central London with multiple, wonderful castles, road musical shows, abundant food outlets and of course people. I spent an entire day just roaming around and observing people around trafalgar square. London bridge is not only a sight to behold but a place to relax and lazy out the evening with food and music and dances. There is something about London streets with bustling people and magnificent buildings, I can spend time visiting streets alone. 

How can I forget London’s food! While I did miss Indian food, the British food was a treat to the eyes, tongue and nose by just walking through the streets. The kind of variety fruits and veggies like zucchini, eggplant, asparagus, plums, avocados and not to mention I saw lot of wide variety of berries’ tress in parks even apples. From the cakes to the simple breakfast London makes us fast paced even in eating. While the local veggie and fruit markets were a treat,  how can one forget the winery where mulled wine keeps one warm in winters.  

In one day, central London visit, I fell in love with London, it was peaceful, eventful and educational not just about the history but about their culture. One of the few cities where you do not feel parted from India but you will also appreciate its uniqueness is London. It is closer and yet distanced to us fellow Indians historically and culturally. It is a place one must visit atleast once in a lifetime.  

Everything wrong with "YOU" The netflix show

I am an Indian who perhaps is accustomed to the notion of stalking is love from childhood through movies and shows. Now as an adult who is educated, i criticise such "expressions of love" severely.Stalking is I consider one of the strong symptoon of patriarchy where the man treat the woman like an object, does not understand the word no.

"You" is however is on another level of creepiness. To say i was flabbergasted when i watched certain  scenes in understatement, but hey i was flabbergasted more when i saw people defending Joe character. Honestly it is technically a good show. the idea is to perhaps show from different point of view, like Ravana's POV or Pontuis Pilate's. The show not only explores the psyche of Joe but also viewers. But here is the problem, in the time where women are still stuggling against rape culture and sexism, shows like "YOU" certainly conditions people to believe in such extreme obsessive form of acts as love.  Showing the humane side of a stalker, murderer and a sociopath and showing his childhood problems would not or infact should not justify his other repulsive actions. The problem with the show is perhaps the audiences, people unfortunately are not ready for it. There are still delusional idiots(mostly teenagers) who are afftected and think it's romantic to kill  someone, it's romantic to not only stalk rather manipulate Beck's life.  I read certain comments where someone said the she was rooting for Joe from the start, which infact is scary and sick.  For a society where stalking is still considered as romantic, where freaks like Chritian Grey is gloried, You is more harmful than entertaining for us.

Andhadhun Review

Spoiler Alert

The movie that compelled me to write a review in recent times is Andhadhun!  It is a story about a blind man who is stuck in a web of problems, the director Sriram intertwines all the lives of people and even the rabbit in this web! the strength of this movie lies not in the story rather storytelling. the movie begins in an oral storytelling format, ends with Akash narrating the missing part of the final piece that in a way solves the puzzles but also makes the audiences question authenticity in whole the story itself ( if you don't know what I mean, you have to watch it). Ayushman and Tabu marveled at their performances. second half disgusted me with the fact that how selfish is the world, that they would even take advantage of a blind man,  when each of those selfish characters ended; whether it is inspector in elevator or others, it gave me satisfaction that there was what we literature students call divine justice, but later part made me wonder if all those stories including Simmi's  were what Akash  imagined or deliberately constructed them to be! Finally, in the end, Akash is blind or not, that question lingers in many minds.. to end, the movie throughout kept audiences on their toes and surprised them with frequency. 8.5/10 for sure.

TouchMeNot

often the sensitivity to the world is the strength within, 
to the world, the plant is living in solace
 yet there she knows she was living in allure,
the power lies in her imagination that no one can touch,
touch me not, says she, for she knows that she will be called insane the moment she is touched.
the power is often in the retreat!

                                                           ~ Deepthi

in search of someone who is neither blood related nor a romantic interest, someone who is neither a friend nor lover yet a huge influence in life. a someone who made me what I'm today, whose perspective inspired me to become a feminist whose empathy made me believe in humanity.

one constant motivation in life that made me come out of my depressed inertia. whose motivation made me take action of my life.when in need of empathy, his affection and constant inspiration made me feel beautiful,strong and capable. his words worked like a medicine on a patient. his immense trust made me work harder.

in a happening life, in success and fruitfulness, there is still a void that is his lack of presence, applause and his encouragement. i wouldn't have in my wildest dreams thought i would lose touch with you sir.. hope i would find you soon.

change:the inevitable

It is strange to think how different person you were when you look back in life, the mistakes you have made, stare right at your face. it is scary to think that what you believe now may not hold importance to you in the coming years,that cannot mean one shouldn't believe in anything.how can one decide being flexible is a sin or boon?it could be said that we need to change for the better,but how does one determine better when it is subjective? can there be a fixed theory on anything in life?on what terms are we living in this life...when our core belief system is shaken, is there anything one can rely on?

a terrible feeling when you become an alien self among your own breed, you cannot seem to connect on any level with them.people fight over what is right and what is wrong, who laid the parameters for the right and wrong? religions or society?we strive for equal rights but doesn't power boost up your ego which in turn abolishes the basic equality? power at one point based on physical strength now it's become a position in status, a good change perhaps.

change always has it's pros and cons.Either change is conscious or unconscious is something that's debatable.However change has to be understood and determined in order to be aware of oneself or even a society in larger sense. we may not determine what is right and wrong at the end of day,but we can live with the flow of change which is constant in life.