Mediocre Perspectives

I do not wear Jeans pants. They are heavy, sweaty and uncomfortable. Living at 13.0827 degrees north of the Equator I do not see a sensible reason why they should be worn unless you want to fry your thighs. Well, that does not mean I am comfortable with a dhoti either. Though dhotis are the most suitable attire for tropical-humid-skin-burning-head-aching-sweat-dripping Chennai climate, I am comfortable with pants. I still remember writer Sujatha narrating the comfort of pants in his book Katradhum Petradhum – they are versatile when compared to dhotis from climbing stairs to catching buses on the run. Though you might contest the above statement that Chettans from Kerala comfortably do those stunts with their dhotis on, let me just say that I am not as talented as them. Further, adopting a new habit at the age of twenty-five seems very odd. Enough said, as a strong proponent of Tamil identity I diligently decided to purchase pants for this Pongal which is due in ten days. I ...

Signing off is an important part of few scenes in movies, especially the ones involving intense conversations where the one who wins the talk, usually leaves like a boss. That is not to be so in the real world. It is especially true for men irrespective of their age. The art of saying a poor good-bye is ingrained in men so strongly that I have rarely seen one take off without a fuss. I have personally done it so many times possibly more than the number of twinkles in a starlit sky. The number of things a man carries when he leaves a place never crosses the single digit. The mobile phone in one pocket, wallet in the other and key in third are the principal items. Yet there is always one which is let off and he has to return to fetch it.  Photo Courtesy: Brian Evans When he leaves for the first time he does it like a hero, thoroughly prepared, ready to face it be it day or night, so confident that he is ready to take on the world felt through the ‘bye’ he recites wh...

A few days ago my friend told me that he didn’t finish the biscuits we had bought last night. Not owing to lack of appetite, but the act of finding an odd insect inside it usually found in swamps. Well, it was a major biscuit brand and hence things like this are not supposed to happen. But we just purchased another one of the same brands after carefully discarding the one with the insect corpse. This was not the first time that a so-called premium product has failed to live up to its expectations. I remember products marketed with extensive life unable to maintain durability beyond six months. But that doesn’t change the fact microeconomics works in India. We Indians have a high but false perception that only companies which can shell millions of rupees and get Miss World to market them are the only ones which could assure quality. I personally cannot vouch where this mindset comes from but I am pretty sure that such thoughts are ingrained from an early age possibly by the way ...

Few incidents reveal malaise plaguing the society. The responses generated on social media and alike after a child actress was allegedly molested in an airplane indicate how deeper misogyny, distrust, chauvinism etc. are entrenched in the aspiring superpower of the world. The reports on the incident were straightforward. A middle-aged man on the seat right behind the actress had allegedly molested her. The actor had documented the incident and posted it on her Instagram account. The alleged offender has been taken custody and investigation into the incident has begun. There was expected support for the actor from personalities from different domains condemning the incident. But it was something else altogether which indicates the nature of beings which populate our society. Trolls were hurled at the actor on various accounts. Mean tweets are nothing new to actors. Comedy shows even has heads of states sharing mean tweets. Nevertheless, the timing and the nature of tweets are fo...

My friend had gone to Bengaluru for an internship a few months ago. When she was conversing on infrastructure arteries on Bengaluru she told me that Chennai’s traffic was bearable. I personally cannot vouch for this opinion as I have not been to the cosmopolitan city. But there is certainly one thing I could, as one who uses a cycle to commute in Chennai.  Indian metropolitan cities are unfit for bicycle transport. I do realize that I am not stating a Nobel-worthy scientific fact but having experienced instances of ‘road-bullying’ I am forced to repeat it. I believe I was gifted my first bicycle when I was 10. I vaguely recall it being fitted with miniature supporting wheels for balance which my parents did not have (kudos to capitalism). After I grew up, I got a new cycle which I used for several years in school and college. Having found employment I bought my third one to commute to my workplace. Though I have used a bicycle for several years for commuting to school in a Ti...

Having a nonvegetarian meal on a Sunday afternoon is one of the conventions of Indian life. Though I protest most conventions I never shy away from a good meal. It was not the first time I have seen someone using a tissue paper in the hand-wash section of the hotel, but it was not the usual sight too. The mother asked the child to drag the tissue paper from the suspended box above. It drew one for its left hand, one for its mouth and the last one for fun. The child cannot be above six years of age meaning the brain is still at a very nascent stage and attitudes and behavior register deeply in the neural networks. If capitalism wanted to promote consumerism for the next generation and induce growth it is definitely on the right track by molding the next generation by a simple tissue paper. The tissue paper is the manifestation of our use-and-throw behavior. A few weeks ago, I received a sympathetic stare for housing an ink pen in my front pocket. The stare conveyed that I belo...

There are times I wonder about the purpose of art. There are multiple perspectives on what art is supposed to achieve, the most accepted being a tool for making life worth living. Art could do this in two ways – either transporting one through a portal beyond reality or painting his mind using complex tools to reveal the harsh truths on life using different forms as reality is not hard hitting. Art has always seen challenges and the recent protests to prevent the screening of the movie Padmavati is only an extension of what it has faced since time immemorial. The protesters claim that the movie is disrespectful to the Queen Padmini. The irony lies in the fact that she never existed. The earliest fictitious account was by Malik Muhammad Jayasi which is dated to the 1540s, more than 200 years after Alauddin Khilji, the emperor of the Delhi Sultanate passed away. There is no historical account that Alauddin Khilji decided to conquer Chittoor lured by the beauty of Padmavati, who wa...