Misc Observations

Daddy doesn’t talk unless he has a glass in his hand and/or everyone's eating
Tumsa nahin dekha inspired him to dance around nani
Fluffy is now old and doddering a bit, but food still gets her excited. (There is photographic evidence. In daddy’s words- “paagal hoi phirdi hai”)
I think I’ll be the same when I’m old
Doctors are sometimes like bad lawyers. They don’t listen to clients, and they’re quick to provide “solutions” that might or might not be appropriate.
Manna Dey and Mohd Rafi are awesome fun. Indians are MENTAL, but in a good way.
The BRO has a sense of humour that helps them do a decent job at telling people to slow down along the roads in the mountains. Some gems- “If eager to last, then why fast?” “Better late than Mr. Late”
Your family is the only group of people you can relax and be utter slobs around. They'll love you anyway and they've seen you in every possible state and mood you're capable of being in.
I'm sick of how American my music is.

The youngling's manch pravesh

My little sister is kathak graduating today. In a sense. She's performing at Stein auditorium at Habitat Centre, and doing a choreography my guru ji (the best guru ji in the WORLD, btw) calls jaan leva. As I type this, I'm waiting for the nail paint on her very tiny little fingernails to dry off. I never knew her finger nails were that tiny until I did this. Its such a typical elder sister younger sister thing to be doing, and we've never done it until today, the day of her big performance, and a couple of months before she leaves for the foreign lands.

I'm even wearing a magnata (magenta, as pronounced by my maths tutor) sari to mark the occasion. Sigh. All senti, this post.

Bleh
Aqseer

Caste Consensus

Should a caste consensus be carried out or not? The Headlines Today anchor says that it reinforces the relevance of caste in our society today, something we say we want to rid ourselves of. I think that that’s a real pity, because the argument in weak and crude; in fact, much stronger arguments could be made against the caste census, such as the ones in this piece- http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/surjit-s-bhalla-dishonesty-in-caste-census/395687/ What we do need is a census that highlights the real economic and social depression of alleged backward classes in India. It would save this country and its people a lot of resources and internal conflict if reservations went to the deserving. Some of us have been crying ourselves hoarse, asking for economic reservations rather than caste based ones, a properly conducted census with clear aims and focus is what we need. Not some inflammatory and miserably under thought rhetoric on national TV. You, the media, have a powerful tool at your disposal, please use it constructively.

Chaps

My father is to blame, really. He’s the reason I can’t get any place on time. There’s something magical about getting ready with music playing in the back. It’s so personal. You, your clothes, your chosen tool of de-odourisation, your appearance, your music.

That’s how I remember getting dressed for Air Force parties as a child, mum ready well before time, tightening the screws on her big earrings while pa sashayed from one room to the other, head bopping to the dulcet tunes of some or the other song, winding his big pagdi round and round to the beat of JJ Cale, or maybe BB king. Occasionally, we’d play tug of war with the long winding piece of cloth that seemed to magically end up on his head, secured only by five shiny all pins. The smell of talc and Chaps in the air, mum giving herself a once over in the mirror, straightening pleats and perhaps mumbling under her breath, sneaking peeks at the clock while papa confidently assured her he’d be ready in five.

It might’ve lowered mum’s life expectancy a wee little bit, but it’s given me a store of wonderful audio visual olfactory memories. There is something very poignant about your parents lightly bickering with each other about stuff like being late for parties. How the papa will try and make it up to the mama by complimenting her or maroing some old hindi dialogue, giving us little ones good reason to giggle in the backseat.

That whole unchanging sequence has left behind a legacy where junior-senior Sodhi takes about twice as long to get out of the house as strictly necessary. How can you bring yourself to stop Nothing Man, or Three o Clock Blues, or Us or If you think you need some lovin’ half way through? You can’t. And I don’t want to.

The Humanity of Dawn

At the twilight hour of dawn
The two legged beasts
Become less than-
Reclaim the land they built
With their human, feeling feet
Lunge on forlorn park benches
Feeling air instead of exhaust
Stand under trees, look up at leaves
The axe resting a while
The molestation put on hold

The humanity of dawn
Doesn't last very long
But the two legged beasts
Become less than

"Rape" as metaphor

http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/12/18/politics-and-the-rape-metaphor/

The word's everywhere, even I'm guilty of using it to indicate that I'm not prepared for an exam, or I haven't practised enough to perform on stage blah blah. But is throwing that word around lightly justifiable? And what does its rampant use say, if anything at all?

What is the word rape a metaphor for? I don't think its usage is gendered, at least not in my immediate environment (i.e., on our campus). Thus I don't agree with some of the theories touched upon in the post that is linked above.

But I do think that its usage trivializes the crime, and in some cases, such as in the context of winning a game (our basketball team raped theirs, man!) or outsmarting someone (she was trying to argue in favour of xyz, I completely raped her) it lends a dangerous connotation to the actual act. One that associates rape with victory, greater power, success and celebration. Doesn't such usage also legitimize rape to an extent, if only at a subconscious level?

Yes, I know its not meant that way. But Yellow Submarine was not meant the way Helter Skelter understood it. And the makers of Gossip Girl certainly didn't think that a "vella" girl in a Hyderabadi high school would create an account on facebook, undertake the 'tremendous burden' of being one and deeply hurt her friends.

Meaning to say that such usage would a) hurt a victim of rape very profoundly and b) let some sadly misinformed kid somewhere feel that its cool to commit rape. Doesn't sound likely, but you never know.

How much this sucks

People are making music, people my age, spinning at MOS, playing in bands, making music, and I'm sitting her, typing out a completely unoriginal, patently useless CPC project cause that's how my prof wants it. What could suck more?

I want to dance. Play. Write. Sing. Also research and write academic stuff, but if its exciting. Like jurisprudential crap. Very very interesting stuff, that. Or policy stuff. Not the procedure that needs to be followed when making an application for admission of additional evidence at appellate stage.

Bleh.


FML.