Besan Ka Halwa

 Today it's been one year since I joined the civil services. As a history student I tend to give some importance to dates and 'historical causation.' Would like to share something thought provoking with you all. In the photo, that is my Great Grandfather seated between my Grandfather and me. I call him 'budhe dada.'  He could never read or write, but back in 1950s, he decided that even though he had never gone outside his village, his son would have an education. His son (my Dadaji) sent his children to study beyond the district, across the state. His son (my father) took me across the country to receive an education.  And when someone asks me what was the 'turning point' in your life, I think it was that one day in the 1950s when budhe dada decided to send dadaji to school. Now that I explain my Great-Grandfather that I will be working for the country abroad, he doesn't understand. He doesn't even remember my name and mostly forgets even his son...

Let this be very clear. Director Thiagarajan Kumararaja's 'Super Deluxe' is not Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction.' The latter was a film that came out in 1994 and was considered to be 'a great film about nothing in particular'- the former came out in 2019 and is 'a great film about everything in particular.' Pulp Fiction aged really well and turned out to be a cult classic about 'many things', Super Deluxe is bound to build that status for itself with time and it might go on to be considered a cult classic about 'perhaps nothing.' And that makes both the films some kind of remotely related identical cousins of each other. If that sounds weird to you, then I think you haven't really gotten used to the films.    Both the films have been built from a similar mould. Multiple character ensemble. Genre-defying. Parallel storylines. Crude dialogue. Lot of local travel. And of course, the considerable length of the film.  The opening credits...

A book that you must read (if you must read) this year is: 'A Confederacy of Dunces'. If there were anyone who would be able to put in words the frustrations, insecurities, paranoia and instabilities of 2020- the year that pushed the world into a self-imposed sloth - it would be Ignatius J. Reilly, the protagonist of John Kennedy Toole's cult classic posthumous publication 'A Confederacy of Dunces'. It was published after over 17 years of being written and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for its accurate description of the city and society of New Orleans- but more so the Uptown human condition. It is clearly a timeless novel, as it remains excessively relevant today.  Not going into the tragic story of its creator (which makes for an insightful commentary of its own), we shall talk about the central character of the book and how we relate to him this year more than ever- on a rather spiritual level.  In the book, 'The lengthy indictment' that Ignatius...

[Greetings to all on the National Handloom Day.]  "बंधगला" - विक्रम ग्रेवाल भीतर से यह नीव श्वेत मेरी शान का परचम काला है।   निरंतर ड्राई क्लीन कर नाज़ों से इसे संभाला है। अतीत ने इसके बटन सींचे वर्तमान ने धूळ को झाड़ा है। भविष्य ने कंधे सँवारे और अब बहुत कुछ बदलने वाला है। सर से पाँव तक संघर्ष इसको धारण करना भी एक कला है। अपारदर्शी पर गौरव का दर्पण ऐसा यह मेरा बंधगला है। पसीने से हुआ पावन इसमे ताप से तेज ढला है। शुरुआत में गर्दन पे चुभन है परन्तु कंठ भला तो सब भला है। 'शीलम परम भूषणम' के प्रतीक इसकी सादगी ने दिखाए हैं। काल में इसकी बसी रश्मि ने कई अंधकार हटाए हैं। शासन, प्रशासन, अनुशासन इसके धागों में समाए हैं। धागों ने नहीं, देश की आकाँक्षाओं ने ऐसे हज़ारों बंधगले बनाए हैं।