Mediocre Perspectives

The foundation of the capital city for the state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) has been laid in the presence of many dignitaries. Planners would find it difficult to recall the last time an event was conducted with such fanfare. Few months ago, in a list of the most polluted cities on earth, 13 out of 20 were found in India. The report should be taken as an eye opener for upgrading the ‘live-ability’ of our cities and should serve as an important take away for the new capital ‘envisioned’. Two concerns Though the reasons given for the current state of our cities are many, they fundamentally lack an important quotient – planning. Cities in India have always proliferated without a specified direction resulting in so many problems which we encounter today. Amaravati is both a blessing and a curse. Amaravati is a missed opportunity since Andhra Pradesh has not declared any of its existing towns or cities as its capital. This would have provided Andhra Pradesh with a possibility of div...

The Sahithya Akademi has finally acceded to the demands of the writers, that a resolution to be passed against the attack on rationalism. But this has happened following many writers returning their awards pestering the academy to break its silence on the ongoing assault on tolerance, the right to ‘dissent’ and killing of rationalist M.M.Kalburgi. The actual reason for the recent outburst is a series of events since the new government under the leadership of the honorable PM Narendra Modi came to power. A pattern is seen emerging if one skims through the events which has occupied the headlines in the last one year. It starts from the honorable PM himself reluctant to extend his wishes for all festivals setting aside his bias. The events of ‘reconversion’ of people back into the fold of Hinduism by VHP termed ‘ghar wapsi’ through material means was widely publicized in the media. The irresponsible statements made by few legislators ranged from calling for Hindu women to have more ...

When I was combing my hair today through the mirror’s eyes, I couldn’t resist contemplating a TV show which talked about increasing ‘face’ fairness. In the show, the difficulties of their facial skin problems were narrated by the participants and the experts were giving advice for tackling them. On second thought, I did realize that this was not the only show which talked about ‘facial’ problems. I remember many shows in where questions being asked, from hair fall to acne.  The emphasis on ‘looking’ good is embedded rather deeply in mind. It is not a new phenomenon and has been prevalent ages together. TV shows on facial fairness and innumerable commercials on beautification products are only extension of what existed for centuries. This is elucidated by the description of heroes and heroines in epics, poems and sculptures. There hardly existed a queen or a king who didn’t want them to be depicted as beautiful though reality might be the other way around. Throughout our l...

He never liked to work on Saturdays. But now it was the only way to tide over the tough financial condition in the last two months. He knew that things will be normal in one more month. After slipping his one-sided bag over his shoulders he walked out of his office. The time on his mobile phone was 7:10. “It is late already. Let us go”, said his friend. Parallel to the pavement they fast along the road. Murthy looked over his shoulder to the pavement. Apart from walking, he could recall every other activity, the pavement was used. His mind returned to reality when an auto blazed past them with a screeching horn.  One more supermarket was being constructed on that road. “There will be more traffic when this comes up. Who asked for another one?” asked his friend. “Move along, it doesn’t matter for us. It is not on our bus route”. When they reached the main road, his friend handed him a Rajeshkumar novel. “Here, it was good. This was definitely better than the last one you gave ...