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Poem: Customary indifference and a year gone by

It is not customary for me to
glance into another’s book. Or
so I constantly fool myself.
This man, at a bookstore picks
up Freud for Beginners, I wonder
if mating rituals have changed.
I force laughter into small pickle
jars and let my elbow talk to his.
Outside in moth eaten neon sign.
A new year (apparently) is thrust
onto the traffic’s face. Sweet
(fucking [...]

Tagged. Five things you may not know about me.

A tag by Rebecca cannot be ignored. Especially if one remembers her kitten eating avatar. So, apparently I have to talk about “five things people don’t know about me”. Now, there are some good reasons why people don’t know many things about me. Apart from the obvious excuses of embarrassment and privacy, there’s also one [...]

Even if we are not bicycles

Irrelevant of one’s significance, one deserves time-off. There is much to write about however. From going to Begum Samroo’s church in Sardhana near Meerut, to the madness at Delhi airport, the real estate wonders in Hyderabad. By the time I get to London, a lot will be forgotten. But every bicycle needs its rest. In [...]

Once again, Meri and Teri Christmas!

While walking about in Connaught Place, we chanced upon a rather underweight Santa Claus. But there were more along the inner circle. Sitting and conferring. Yesterday, while munching on plum cake, I was briefly reminded of what a confusing mish mash of rituals surround Christmas in Indian cities. Where Merry in the Merry Christmas becomes [...]

Poem: A sleeping dog and separation

This boy, he says, the street
dogs here are bigger than anywhere
else. The Mongrel raises his golden,
sleepy head.
Fly stuck on nostril, the dog’s
lazy paw etching circles. Post-prandial,
the lovers wish to play. With dogs
and distraction.
Even this day he says, it must end.
In agreement, the dog sits the head
back on grass. She likes vertigo on
the edge.
In a [...]

Demolishing buildings and creating ruins

It looks like ruins aren’t just remnants of distant history in this city. Real estate isn’t all that prime, because the city runs like quicksilver. So when a building is no longer worth living in, you move on and build something elsewhere. Almost a year after the demolition squads came and tore down the structures [...]

Delhi: Words, life and tombs

I realized today morning that I woke up brimming with words and wordlessness. For the last month or so, the looming doom of a London winter had made me slightly quiet. Even if it isn’t that cold in London, I think the trip to India in September had left me India-sick.
In Delhi, the sights [...]