In Appreciation of Stanger Things… I saw an end of the world kind of a movie from the 90s called ‘The Core’ and then I watched ‘Stranger Things’ season 4. I mean of course one could tell the difference between the scale of production and cinematic experience; the 90s narrative being more aspirational and this one being more realistic and relevant to current times. So much of what I understood as a teenager was from a distance. So much of what I picked up about American culture was from Hollywood or depiction of it from TV serials. Back then there were obvious limitations to having an actual live experience of what we are watching on our television screen. But today, as an adult I can get a real sense of how much of it was made up. For instance, in this movie ‘The Core’ the role of the hacker is so blown out of proportion. I mean to show every hacker capable of hacking the US security system is just weird, isn’t it? No, every hacker isn’t the same and no, ever...
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Angry Indian Goddesses!!
You know over the years we have heard so much about the ‘’male ego’’ and the whole whitewashing of our psyche, our conditioning, our identity based on it I see no one ever mentioning or even addressing the ‘Female ego’ which is the chi to this malfunctioning and misadjusting aspect of our society. Now, I can concoct a whole bunch of words and my theory behind what I really mean by the ‘female ego’ and how it can be the key to a women’s mind, body, and heart. Guys, you can get your notepads ready. But first of all, in the vaguest of sense, do you believe that it really exists? Can you even sense it? Do you think that it’ll destroy you? Are you scared of it? You think it’s some version of the angry ‘Monjolika’ that you’ve been exposed to? Or you think that it’s some version of Kali with her tongue out caught in a situation where she has clearly faltered. Have you ever experienced a woman going really mad and observed her carefully? Did you see that flicker of spark tur...
So difficult to be simple...
In these almost 2 years of staying at home, I have seen this child grow from my balcony. She's roughly 4-5 years old, has started to go to school now. I don't know her name. She lives with her mother, auntie (mother's younger sister) and her maternal grand parents. I began to notice her since she just started walking. Her mother would run around her trying to feed her rice and smashed potatoes with dal (a staple bengali breakfast, lunch and dinner sort of ). She was as happy and unperturbed as a 2n1/2 - 3 year old would be. I enjoyed watching her, rather was drawn to her for the liveliness and newness she bought into the mundane, boring, busy lives of dysfunctional adults. It's only after few days of watching her grow, when it suddenly hit me, where is this kid's father!? and how come it's always only her mother attending to her. And so I asked around and got to know that her mother does not stay with the husband anymore. She came back to her father's home...
The audacity of being stupid
I am not sure if you've heard this but there is a phrase that goes like 'yeda banke peda khana'. People say that when someone smarter pretends to be stupid to get something out of a situation. The anecdotal reference behind this is if someone normal like you and me acts like a mad person or beggar in a social scenario, sitting in line with other beggars outside a hindu temple to get some charity or a free laddu. That's when you say 'yeda banke peda kha raha hai'. So, for the smarter people in general, if you know what stupidity constitutes for in a particular setup (meaning what is considered stupid for the people around you) and you know which buttons to press to get a sympathetic response from someone, you can very well use 'stupidity' as a bait to get what you want. But, the thing is, other than you, rest of the people are getting nothing out of it. Therefore, its not exactly a viable medium of exchange for the long run. You can only fool people once...
My love for Peggy Olson
You must have heard of Platonic relationships. Its a non-sexual relationship between a man and a women, mostly spiritual in its outlook, where at least one of the partner is highly revered by the other and held in high esteem. One of the tell-tale couple to epitomize this theory has to be goddess Radha-Krishna. As long as I can remember they have always been worshiped together. Their bond is considered supreme, pious and pure despite the age difference and other short-comings because its strictly non-sexual and involves union of the souls (precisely the part majority of people don't understand). Cut to 2nd decade of the 21st century, our Indian culture is still hungover by the same ideals. Female's virginity is important before marriage. Alia Bhatt once spoke of slut shaming which means it's irrespective of the class divide in our society. Mansplaining is a real phenomenon and casual sexism (fat shaming included) at work place is widespread. Item numbers objectifying wom...
Introduction to empathy
Empathy in its simplest form means 'the ability to put yourself in someones place and feel as they would'. It is different from Sympathy even though both are used collectively most of the time. 'Sympathy' is the act of showing pity on someone or feeling sorry for someone's misfortunes. It is loving someone from a distance. An act of sympathy is more like asserting the fact that 'I am doing you a favor'. Its more of a societal compulsion. You can count it under acceptable manners I guess like how relatives come to console you after there's been a death in the family. Forced and entirely useless social construct where people genuinely don't know what to say to make the family feel better as nothing can be changed. Sympathy is more like imposing yourself externally in order to help someone but 'empathy' is holding someones hand and pulling them out of an emotional black hole. Anyway 'empathy' is more like 'I am you' (Soham ...