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Showing posts from May, 2011

My God!

I was raised by a very flexible Hindu family. We didn't go to temples as often. We didn't fast every now and then. We never organized  bhajans and kirtans at our place as is customary in many Punjabi families. I took off from there. My visits to temples are now restricted to the times when I really feel like going. I haven't fasted for the past 4 years. So do I believe in any of the many Hindu Gods? To say that I believe that there is a Ganesh with the head of an elephant and the body of a human being who looks after all our new businesses will be a lie. I don't believe that when angered, Shiv performs a tandav to inflict a  pralay  on earth. And I don't believe that Vishnu sits on that huge lotus while his wife, Lakshmi massages his feet. But they are interesting characters, never-the-less. Having said that, I do feel like a Hindu because Hinduism gives me freedom to believe in any power I can bring myself to accept. That makes it easier for me because wh

Magnifying Glass

Put down that magnifying glass because it will reveal a lot of flaws in her. That one white hair, the scars on her body, the limp in her walk, the stutter when she talks, the smudged make-up, the crow's feet around her eyes, the laugh lines around her mouth,  and the patch on her dress.   But if you look at her without the magnifying glass, you will see that she may not be perfect but is no worse than everyone else around you. You may notice that her eye light up when she sees you and you may find out how proud she is of you. You will understand why she is the way she is. And once you have done that then you may realize how much she loves you and how much joy she brings to your life. So put down your magnifying glass and look at her without it. Because she kept her magnifying glass down a long time back...

Doodles

I doodle during classes. So if you happen to be my professor and have noticed me scribbling incessantly on my notebook while you talk, I am not taking notes. I am doodling. But please don't be offended as doodling helps me concentrate on what you are saying. Anyways, here are some of my doodles. Dancing ants! More to come - Scottish ants and a horse with a bow.

From the Editor – See What a Comma Does to a Species!

When you are an Editor of a website that has passionate authors contributing to it, your life is quite easy. But not everyone is as lucky as me and that is why there is a need to stress upon the need to run a spell-check and an grammar check on whatever you post online so that you don't end up becoming a Chatur or turning a harmless panda into a killer. To find out why the old-school concepts of spelling checks and grammar checks still hold good today, read the Ghumakkar Editorial for May 2011. From the Editor – See What a Comma Does to a Species!

Ink

Never before have I seen such an assortment of talent in such an informal setting. Yes the Ink Festival in May 2011 was my first experience of this kind. I have performed poetry before but Ink Festival was unlike anything I had ever expected. It took place across four nights. Following was the schedule: May 5th - Comedy Night May 6th - Scratch Night May 7th - Scratch Night May 8th - Music Night Of these, I had the priviledge of attending the first 3 nights. Couldn't go for the fourth because I was too exhausted. I cannot even imagine the amount of stress the organisers would have gone through to organise this festival. I met two of them, Becci and Rachel, and I am sure there are many others behind the scene who made this excellent show possible. I was all excited to attend the comedy night for two main reasons: 1) This was the first one that I would be attending 2) I was getting a 50% discount owing to the fact that I was to perform on the scratch nights So even thoug

Meet the Author - Aditya Khandelwal

On my visit to India during the Easter break, we thought that it would be good to meet some of the authors at Ghumakkar. One of the authors I met was Aditya Khandelwal. Aditya published his first post on December 25, 2010 and since then has gone on to publish a total of 14 posts, each unique and inspiring. Nandan arranged a meeting at 1:00 PM at Costa Coffee and Aditya generously agreed to take time out of his lunch hour for the meeting. Though I have interacted with many authors at Ghumakkar, this was the first time I was going to meet one in person and I was really looking forward to it. However, my outdated estimates did not work too well especially because I missed a key turn and, therefore, When I arrived, Aditya was already waiting. I had no trouble recognizing him from his profile picture. After apologising for my lack of punctuality we started our discussion over coffee. The purpose of the meeting was not only to talk to Aditya but also to get first hand feedback about the