tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79279632024-03-14T17:54:46.632+05:30sihikahiMe and my text. (By the way, sihi = sweet, kahi = bitter. But we entertain all types here.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger242125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-60578779049027383402020-04-10T16:29:00.000+05:302020-04-11T15:52:21.565+05:30Kids staying at home in times of corona ≠ Homeschooling
I've been reading and
listening to families', especially mothers' struggles with working
from home, kids being at home, and of course handling all the
corona-related stress as well as measures to stay safe and well
stocked. Some have used the term “homeschooling”, perhaps to
describe the way kids are currently learning now.
In this post, I first
talk about our own understanding of the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-52786815041303399432020-02-04T15:32:00.000+05:302020-04-11T13:37:19.990+05:30Kempu Kanagile -- Kids' watch their first play
Bhargavi and I went about half hour before the scheduled start of the play to buy the tickets. We settled in with a packet of chakkli and waited for the show to begin and for my mother to arrive with Maya.
As we had bought a family pass after paying a bomb (well, Rs 500 per head is a bomb by Sirsi standards, at least), I felt entitled to sit in the second row. This was rather daring of me, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-28588469902697831922019-08-13T12:29:00.000+05:302020-06-08T07:15:19.480+05:30Why I try not to buy -- an effort to live the gift culture
I try not to buy because:
I can do with a little less.
Someone somewhere probably already has that pair of sneakers I am looking for.
Perhaps they no longer need it or have more than one pair and are willing to share.
We seldom pay for the real price of things. How can I ever pay for the 2,700 litres of water required to make a single t-shirt in just a few rupees? And that’s only water weUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-16130707998061593982019-03-27T17:21:00.000+05:302019-05-02T06:56:13.960+05:30Easy home composting
When I began composting two years ago, I would follow all the instructions that are commonly found about composting: turning it, adding an accelerator/inoculant, and also sieveing the compost.
As days passed, I began to simplify things. Now, I don’t do any of those three steps. It wasn’t because my beginner’s enthusiasm had dwindled — I still feel composting is poetry — but because I began Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-68872018662683377132018-07-06T16:00:00.001+05:302018-07-06T16:04:42.213+05:30#HindiImposition: A Missed Chance for Linguistic Rights
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Last year, a hashtag
trended on Twitter India: #HindiImposition. It was the online
manifestation of a protest in Bengaluru over Hindi being one of the
languages on the display boards of the city’s metro rail service.
The protesters were Kannada-speaking people of the city. They felt
that Hindi signs were not required inUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-79662516950422457722018-03-23T14:00:00.000+05:302018-03-23T19:26:42.224+05:30Homeschooling -- Some notes
In August 2016, I pulled my daughter out of pre-nursery and started our “homeschooling journey”. There was a lot of dissatisfaction in me about our education system and what it does to children. I was keen on alternative schools, but those are so few and far between in India. And, most of them are in big cities, while I was not.
My daughter was very excited at the idea of getting out of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-12644122359462916782017-11-04T21:51:00.000+05:302019-03-31T11:16:42.014+05:30A year of trying to live sustainably
I was never much of a shopper. Shopping malls made me anxious. Even before hearing of minimalism, zero waste, and similar concepts I wasn't comfortable with our "disposable" culture. Perhaps my background in alternative journalism, some values handed down by my parents, especially my mother, and a connection with rural life saved me from a life of splurge.
But, of course, I have been guilty, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-16153761075493465742017-04-30T16:35:00.000+05:302017-04-30T16:35:01.106+05:30Hating or loving Dangal?
A few days I had an email conversation with a friend of mine
on the movie Dangal. She said she
hated the movie for the following reason:
Mr Phogat, played by Aamir Khan, foists his wrestling dreams
on his daughters. While the girls go on to excel at the sport, this does not
take away from the fact that Mr Phogat is undoubtedly a patriarchal figure, who
actually may need therapy over his Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-6526319799446801042017-04-30T15:52:00.002+05:302020-03-28T13:48:22.403+05:30Life, and living it
This is a post I wrote in 2008 and never published. My grandmother (Ajji) lived five more years. Among the people whom I have seen pass away, she and Jyoti Sanyal are the ones who still live fresh in my memory.
Ajji was a remarkable woman. She once gave me her definition of beauty: "When you have two hands, two legs, and all other organs given by God in perfect shape, what else can youUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-22853008328510741822017-02-19T19:26:00.000+05:302017-02-19T19:26:31.824+05:30Too loud a solitude
Sometime ago when I heard about Ann Morgan’s journey through the
world through books, I was fascinated by the idea. Apart from the cost of the
books, I can’t see another affordable and authentic way of seeing the world. Of
course, it can be argued that one book or one author can’t possibly tell you
all there is to tell about one country. But think of it like this: when you
meet someone Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-34495425728114630092015-10-03T19:30:00.000+05:302015-10-03T19:30:09.457+05:30Reinventing Organizations -- Hoping and Working towards the Soulful Workplace
I am a very slow reader and some months ago
when I was job-hunting, I saw this among the requirements of a company: Must
have read Reinventing Organizations.
I hadn’t read it, of course, and was instantaneously disqualified, but the book
did intrigue me: What did it talk about that made it so important as to be a
job qualification? I went straight ahead and bought it.
And, I must thank the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-38003667149309538532014-12-31T14:14:00.000+05:302014-12-31T14:14:25.497+05:30Love languages, not fear them
My toddler's language skills are pretty advanced in both her mother tongues - Kannada and Bengali. I don't teach her English per se, but she has learned quite a bit of that, too, as there's always some English in the environment. That was the precisely the reason why I am not emphasizing on English at this point, because she cannot escape English and ultimately, she'll learn it.
I am concerned Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-81478319187886216612014-12-24T12:35:00.000+05:302014-12-31T12:35:43.872+05:30The Kashmir vote
The thing with fractured mandates is this. Ultimately, everything becomes a numbers game and to hell with people's aspirations. Omar Abdullah's flippancy on TV yesterday wasn't particularly enjoyable. It's a polarized vote, but even such polarization comes to naught when the BJP has to go to bed with frenemies. So much for the Hindu vote and Muslim vote. But I hope the Kashmiris Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-23434045686679351762014-12-05T16:09:00.000+05:302014-12-12T16:12:23.557+05:30An okay for a medical test in rape case seems like a huge leap for justice
Update on 12 December 2014: Swami's DNA has matched with that found on the clothes submitted by the rape victim. http://bit.ly/1qDIKBa Will try to post a link to this news in English soon.
Raghaveshwara Swami was accused of rape in the last week of August. The Karnataka HC today okayed his medical test, which is one of the first steps to be carried out in a rape case. For thoseUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-35596067705668188132014-10-31T12:52:00.002+05:302014-10-31T12:52:37.368+05:30Will the Havyaka community please stand up?
Hi,
I have decided to not publish any more comments that go on about why Raghaveshwara Bharati Swami is above the law, or respond to them. I have published enough dissenting comments and replied to them, so it's not as if this a one-sided conversation.
To me, this is simple enough and for the life of me, I cannot fathom what's so unfathomable to the bhakta-trolls, who're busy spewing Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-27065876382149675172014-10-17T19:14:00.000+05:302014-10-29T12:32:12.651+05:30Something is rotten in the state of Karnataka
Update: A few days ago, the order prohibiting the Shastri couple from talking to the media was removed. They have now spoken to some Kannada TV channels.
Something sinister has been happening in Karnataka since the last couple of months. For those of you not in the know, and there are many of you thanks to curbs on media reporting, I present below a timeline of the events and my thoughtsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-49868223600563351102014-07-08T16:28:00.003+05:302014-07-08T17:22:38.675+05:30Oggarane misses an opportunity
Oggarane is a step above the usual Kannada movie fare, but I would stop short of calling it unusual. It did have the potential to be better than it is, though.
It starts to be a movie on mature love, but mid-way it can’t resist the temptation of mixing it up with the song-and-dance routine that must accompany young love on screen. The use of the food motif, too, could have been carried Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-8850729181958530622014-06-24T00:15:00.000+05:302014-06-24T10:19:24.991+05:30Why should we have to choose
My generation of mothers is not the first one to have a
full-time job and raise a family. I can’t speak with any authority of what
their work-life balance looked like. This post is only about Indian mothers
like me in this day and age, who live in cities, are looking up in their
careers, and want to be always there for their children. In short, those who do
not want to be forced to make a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-63899015208901468892014-06-06T16:43:00.000+05:302017-11-07T11:06:24.856+05:30Speedy environmental clearances aren't necessarily a good thing
Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State for Environment and Climate Change, announced yesterday that the government would strive for environmental clearances within 60 days and would take the process completely online. The media is taken up with the first part of the story, that is, speedy clearance, but I haven't seen a report that brings out the irony of this announcement coming on World Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-13339455135046456822014-06-06T15:56:00.002+05:302014-06-06T15:58:20.638+05:30I am back (hopefully)
My last post on my blog was long, long ago. Blogging was one of the casualties of me graduating into more responsible positions, personally and professionally. To some extent, Facebook is responsible, too. Before motherhood, managerial positions, and social media, I was a creator of content. I would react to news, trends in society that concerned issues close to my heart.
Afterward, I only Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-22344426593913981492012-11-18T11:36:00.000+05:302012-11-19T11:36:58.331+05:30Bring the 9 pm bulletin back
Where has it disappeared – the 9 pm news bulletin? After a long day of work, when I switch on the TV for my daily dose of news, all I get is opinion. Frequently, it’s one or two issues that hog prime time space with the same people from the same political parties going at each other’s necks. Does anyone really watch these tired old debates day after day? Where is the national news? And the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-14509332653505759462012-09-09T11:37:00.000+05:302012-09-10T11:44:29.720+05:30Motherhood that looks and smells good
Bhargavi, when she was about a month old.
Often, it’s the simple things in life that people don’t understand and miss out on.
Recently, I visited a credit card site in the course of some work and saw an image of a young couple obviously in love. The caption used words to the effect that said that the credit card made it all happen or some such thing. It’s an all-too familiar hook Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-21449967081004509792011-12-27T15:45:00.005+05:302012-01-28T13:13:16.439+05:30The Black SwanI saw this movie immediately after watching this clip, which basically warns against falling for narratives or stories. But how do we do that? We are all made up of stories and spew them by the minute. Yet, he (Tyler Cowen) has a point: when we tell a story, we inevitably tell it through our filter. So, any story leaves off something off the 'original' and takes on a little of the teller. A storyUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-52885405456083087342011-07-31T19:04:00.003+05:302011-07-31T19:58:28.052+05:30Delhi BellyI watched the movie a month ago but found the time today to blog about it. I enjoyed the movie immensely and was surprised to find people scandalized and shocked by it. So, here's my quick defence of the movie:Why do you like Delhi Belly?* Its spontaneity, creative dialogue, and, of course, its celebration of oral sex, especially that rendered to women. Let the tribe of 21st century men grow!But,Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927963.post-81000471101284900592011-06-16T22:15:00.002+05:302011-06-16T22:20:53.569+05:30Time is fiction.Where do the minutes and hours, rolled up into days go? What is memory, but traces and hints of these mysterious days? The bane of memory. If not for it, there’d be no search for the absentee days. If not for memory, everything’s hearsay. Subject to incredulity. For, beyond belief it all seems.Why such consciousness of the self? Why not be unburdened by existence? Why is the past such a comfort Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0