Author: charukesi

Girl rejects rapist’s marriage offer. the 22 year old nurse who was raped by a ward boy has refused his offer of marriage – she only wants to see him hang. Not only did the man rape her, he also gauged out her eyes before the act… surely the foundation stone for a happy peaceful… Continue reading Wham bam, marry you, ma’m?

I had forgotten what a great site fotolog is…. Am again on fotolog – although I can upload only one picture a day with my basic account… check it out

The Bombay – Goa highway NH 17 is a beautiful route – I expect it is breathtaking during the monsoons – it goes over innumerable small (and some quaint) bridges with streams and (potentially) rivers flowing underneath them – and over miles and miles of ghat roads… and if nature all around you is not… Continue reading Roadsigns on NH 17

Jasmeen has some thought-provoking posts on her blog on street harassment – Blank Noise Project…. particularly startling is this mind-map created by an all girl group of 60 between the ages of 17-23 on ‘public space’. The single overwhelming feeling seems to be violation – in different forms and of varying intensity… discomfort, stare, anxiety,… Continue reading Blank Noise Project

I am off for a short holiday – a drive along the Konkan coast – I am turning thirty in a couple of days – and this is an attempt to forget and overcome that sorrow…. Back in a few days with pictures 🙂

The Shiv Sena outdoes itself this time… In an article in Saamna (the party propaganda newspapaer), the Sena presents a thoroughly objectionable explanation for inducement of rape – women wearing revealing clothes – in other words, women asking to be raped… And what is their basis for saying this – the police chowky where the… Continue reading Asking to be raped?

My favourite piece in Bookless in Baghdad (although it is hard to choose) is the one that this edition begins with – growing up with books in India.

As with Tharoor, I read copiously, rapidly and indiscriminately… I have memories of many many lonely moments in childhood banished by books – which took me through exotic lands and dangerous adventures – and entirely allowing my imagination to take over – kids holidaying alone in a lighthouse in a deserted island… (maybe that is why I did not enjoy the televised version of Famous Five half so much – and I still don’t enjoy movies made from books – they force me to look at the situation as they present it – and not through my imagination…)

But as I grew up, I found myself looking for and enjoying books not which offered me an escape route – from loneliness or boredom – (although I still turn to dear PGW when the going gets tough) – but those which offer me something that I can relate to… indeed, the books that I put down with a feeling of satisfaction today are those which offer me something more – shared experiences. When I think about it, this is exactly why I loved Tharoor’s piece on growing up with books in India – I could relate thoroughly to the sentiments he has expressed here – It is, I suppose, a uniquely Indian experience to embrace both Biggles and Birbal, Jeeves and the Jatakas, Tintin and Tenaliraman in your reading. Growing up as a reader in India left me with a vivid sense of books devoured as sources of entertainment, learning, escape, – and vicarious experience – as with most things Tharoor says, I couldn’t have said it better 🙂

I was reading this in Bombay Times this morning…. and wondering afresh why marketing companies and ad agencies waste so much money on hiring totally over-exposed and jaded (if familiar) faces to endorse their brands…. They stare down at you from huge billboards and help push products on TV ads. Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan,… Continue reading A new take on celebrity endorsements

Jobless in Chennai – was what I was till a few days ago… when I devoured a book a day… My most satisfying find during this time was Shashi Tharoor’s Bookless in Baghdad – so titled after those Iraqis who are selling off their priceless collection of books – to fend for their food and… Continue reading Bookless in Baghdad