In finer print...

In my childhood, the basic difference between my sister, my cousin who lived next door and I was this – she was the darkest among us three, my cousin is the fairest. Years later when he tied the knot, his wife too was fair. But being fair was not their reason for marriage. However, in my sister’s mind, being fair was important, at least as a child.


When my nephew was born, he was fair and he still is light-wheatish if not fair. My sister, all of 17, placed the baby’s hand in hers and exclaimed – he is white compared to my dark color. For her, being dark meant being told what colors not to wear, what to do and what not to do. Typical Indian household, isn’t it? Recently I watched this short film Light and Lovely courtesy Facebook, and it instantly took me back to my childhood.
The Fairness cream campaigns were mesmerizing to us. It made sure we believed that fair is beautiful, acceptable and of course the best. In maybe the littlest ways, it did undermine our confidence and our sense…

In a little while, the cab driver volunteered information about his personal life. He belonged to a staunch Brahmin family in UP and his father worked with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and how his family was well-known in their village. As the only son and no other sibling, they had many expectations from him. They were even looking for a suitable girl in the village.
Thinking his life was sorted, I congratulated him. But here is where the problem lay – he had a girlfriend in Mumbai. He began by saying that even though he is a Hindu, he never felt attracted to Hindu girls. His girlfriend was a Muslim. She lived in a far-off suburb of Mumbai and was a school teacher.
Now, to me, this seemed okay. Boy meets girl in the city and falls in love. Religion plays obstacle. He further added that he had met her sister and that things had progressed between them. However, if his parents found out, he would be an outcast and it would kill his parents. So I asked him what he planned to do. Appare…

I love to talk, so much so that people have interrupted me and asked if my tongue pains because I talk so much. No, it doesn’t. In my defense, I’d like to say that I always have a story to tell. Typical Bengali trait, I am not denying that. I think this is a good to have ability that I can strike up a conversation with anyone and everyone. In fact, the husband claims that its that ‘look’ on my face – talk to me.
All jokes apart, I have had some interesting conversation with cabbies, i.e. cab drivers driving the iconic Kaali-peeli taxi, Uber and Ola. But why do we talk? Well, why not… You are travelling together for a considerable amount of time (even 5 minutes’ count) so why not talk to kill time? Also, I find it easier to talk to strangers. If they judge me, it won’t matter. We might never cross paths again. But at times, conversations can get freaky!


This happened with a Uber driver. No, he did not cause me any harm. It was what he shared. In fact, things got so weird that I actua…

I love science-fiction films, books, and my obsession began with Tom Cruise’s Minority Report. I enjoy watching all post-apocalypse films too. In recent times, Interstellar and Oblivion are films I have watched over and over again.
That said, I love nature. I am aware of the many ghastly possibilities we face as we continue to erode and defile nature on a daily basis. This very thought got me intrigued – I know that colonies on Mars are still far-fetched. No, we have not discovered any wormhole (not to my knowledge) nor any habitable planet yet. But what I do know is that we are soon not going to have a home to live in! So what if humans left the earth like in Wall-E? What would happen?

I came across this video on YouTube and must say, I was hooked. Do watch what would happen when humans left the Earth! 
Another theory is that Humans are the so-called aliens, that we don't belong! More on this later...
Also, I wrote more on this here: What would happen if human beings left the…