Arbitrary Obsessions. Cities. History. Music. Feminism. Maami-isms. Patterns. Halwa. Identities. Free Verse. The Internets.
Autorickshaw rides in Delhi are not without their peculiar annoyances and romances. In the dark, you cannot really wave them down. You call out “Auto!” in the general direction of everything and hope that the auto you find will take you where you want to go without asking for twenty times the price. You haggle, [...]
Posted on August 31st, 2007 by Neha Viswanathan
Filed under: Cities, India, Photographs, Rants and Rambles | 10 Comments »
Mad Momma does eat dinner on a table with napkins. She also resembles this vision of Mother India, two kids – one crawling over her knee, and the other never leaving her neck. But here’s the surprise. Both MumbaiGirl and I looked shocked at how small the Bean was. A few days back, in a [...]
Posted on August 31st, 2007 by Neha Viswanathan
Filed under: Blogs, People | 2 Comments »
Words like love make him
cringe. Instead, like all
good Tamil folk, he adores.
Or is in constant adulation.
Imagining his lover as
a film star or a politician.
His heart is large, and she
is too thin. She must grow
larger he decides. Brings
her halwa everyday. Eat.
This Tamil intimacy, he tells
her must be devoid of love.
It is corrupted by burgers.
Instead like fermented [...]
Posted on August 28th, 2007 by Neha Viswanathan
Filed under: Poetry and Fiction | 8 Comments »
Yesterday while gulping hot momos in a mall in Gurgaon, I was suddenly struck by how similar many of the younger girls looked. It’s possible that I am older and therefore jealous of these nubile young things, and find ways of dismissing them entirely. But on a more serious note, I have trouble telling them [...]
Posted on August 26th, 2007 by Neha Viswanathan
Filed under: Photographs, Rants and Rambles, Self | 18 Comments »
Just as I finished cribbing about the weather, it swirls around and changes completely. The sky is a strange brown-tinged cloudy mess. You can smell the thunderstorm a few miles away. Sometimes it starts with a dust storm, sand flying in from the Thar, sticking to your head, and entering your eyes. You squeeze your [...]
Posted on August 25th, 2007 by Neha Viswanathan
Filed under: Music, Film and Art | 6 Comments »
How can flying to India be devoid of drama. Hobbling on one functional foot, struck by the delay of the trains, I made it to the airport well in time to check in and buy chocolates thanks to Mumbaigirl. The way Heathrow is, by the time you walk to the departure gate, you feel like [...]
Posted on August 25th, 2007 by Neha Viswanathan
Filed under: Cities, History and Monuments, India, Photographs | 5 Comments »
Amma, I am confused. The
teacher today kept singing
about some lotus feet. It makes
no sense.
How can anyone walk with
feet like that? I don’t like
music. I will not go for
paattu class1
Exasperated, the mother looks
at her little monster.
“Someday, an andril paravai2
will come and explain it all
to you. The bird is so intelligent,
it can even separate milk
and water.”.
Why [...]
Posted on August 21st, 2007 by Neha Viswanathan
Filed under: Photographs, Poetry and Fiction | 11 Comments »
www.flickr.com
|
