It's raining in Mumbai

Aahista chal zindagi - A new year treat

As a new year treat, I am sharing this beautiful poem written by an anonymous poet. I actually came across it on Whatsapp during last new year when it was being circulated. The forward says it's written by Gulzar but I couldn't trace any source to confirm this, and any original source to link this to, so I am just pasting it here - It doesn't matter who wrote it. It is as beautiful as it is touching: Aahista chal zindagi, abhi kai karz chukana baaki hai Kuch dard mitana baaki hai, kuch farz nibhana baaki hai Raftaar mein tere chalne se kuchh rooth gaye, kuch chhoot gaye Roothon ko manana baaki hai, roton ko hasana baki hai Kuch hasraatein abhi adhuri hain, kuch kaam bhi aur zaruri hai Kuch rishte ban kar toot gaye, kuch judte-judte chhoot gaye Un toote-chhoote rishton ke zakhmon ko mitana baki hai Tu aage chal main aata hoon, kya chhod tujhe ji paunga? In saanson par haqq hai jinka, unko samjhaana baaki hai Aahista chal zindagi, abhi kai karz chukana baki hai So how...

Guide to marital bliss - Find out what feminists fight against!!

If you've never really understood the evils of patriarchy ( link ), believing that feminists blow things out of proportion, may be you should open your eyes to this. Let me show you what's wrong. Below are the guidelines for women translated from a Telugu book on marital bliss which was being distributed at a wedding last week . We need to take this seriously - because our rituals are not evolving with our mindsets. The book advocates this code of conduct for today's women to restore values in today's society of Kalyug . We must not let anyone defend this sort of inhuman abuse under the name of Indian/Hindu culture/values . I'm giving scanned images of some of the guidelines along with the English translation of these guidelines. Adding my response to some of the guidelines in red . 1. Every task performed by a wife must be upon the husband's order . Are we talking about a wife or a slave here ? Or worse, the book doesn't see any need to...

Lechindi... nidra lechindi mahila lokam...

Lechindi.. nidra lechindi mahila lokam... These lines belong to one of the most popular songs of the old Telugu cinema, which are from the film 'Gundamma Katha' ( link ). The song is meant to be a spoof on the feminist movement which started in India before independence, basically about what the then generation perceived to be "role-reversal" ( which it is not - it is simply everyone having the freedom to define one's own 'role' ). I am currently watching the film and took a break to do this post. It would be utterly unfair for me to judge a movie of that time by current values/standards so I'm refraining myself. But I do want to write about how the people of that time (wrongly) understood what feminism and women empowerment were about. Admittedly, I'm not being very harsh as this song is a very beloved one in the Telugu heartland which comes from a very old time. It can be translated as something like this (I'm keeping only relevant parts...

Yours Sincerely

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