About taking back

Ramlamma and her husband Hanumantha wrote a letter today. Or at least, someone wrote it for them in Marathi and Ramlamma put her thumbprint at the bottom in a blue blob and handed it in to the people concerned.
Why this letter?
Well, let’s start at the very beginning (it’s a very good place to start). [...]

The first thing

When a woman became [politically] active, the first thing people would say was, she has questionable morals.
Prema Purav, resident of mill-land Bombay and founder of a women’s catering cooperative, quoted in One Hundred Years by Neera Adarkar and Meena Menon.

Lines #15

(I’ve moved this post up in the hope that Pankaj will notice it once again…)
One more creaking stop … maybe not so creaking. Bonus (but simple) question: why does the singer sing about losing both a “him” and a “her”?
***
Where did I meet her? Where did I lose her? I don’t remember
But life … I [...]

Shall not fall again

In the year 67 AD, the Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in what is now Israel was in full flow. Perched on a towering camel-shaped peak overlooking the Sea of Galilee, the town of Gamla was a focal point of the rebellion. As the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius tells us, even though other towns in [...]

Kind of behaviour to expect

June 22: Journalist A, whom I have a lot of respect for, writes a piece that I find interesting. I link to it with an approving few words.
Blogger F reads journalist A’s piece and also finds it interesting. In fact, blogger F takes the time that evening to leave this comment about the piece:
Interesting. [...]

Really about the women

Vignettes of a city: impressions from a slow walk.
Falkland Road is, of course, really Patthe Bapurao Marg. You knew that. It angles jauntily off the severe east-west gauntlet of Maulana Shaukatali Road, stretching actually from the Tardeo junction to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Road. It is only the final segment — from Maulana Shaukatali Road to [...]

Sea breeze, lumps

My city’s cheerful events/reviews/restaurants/all of the above magazine, Time Out Mumbai, is now on the Web!
As something of a commemoration, here’s a short review of Bombay Meri Jaan, co-authored by the editor of TOM, Naresh Fernandes.
***
The Sea Breeze, The Lumps
In 1996, the then-CM of Maharashtra, Manohar Joshi, actually celebrated what he called his “greatest [...]

Mother is very nice

The net has arrived, truly. Today’s Hindustan Times has a news item about the state bureaucrat Uttam Khobragade. (“Controversies dog bureaucrat Khobragade”). He has been transferred six times in three years, which has given people the impression that he is controversial.
What does Khobragade say in response?
“I have delivered wherever I was posted … If [...]

So little of the world

Some years ago, Amma and I spent a spring weekend with a Mennonite family in rural Pennsylvania. They took us to Sunday Mass at their church, where the pastor noticed the obvious visitors and made a special welcoming mention of us in his sermon. Later, he came over with a big smile, greeted us and [...]

-versary, again

Today’s a BIG day for this blog! Whoo!
It’s exactly one year, 10 months and one day since it first hit the air. Or if you prefer, 670 days.
Big day, like I said.
Postscript: How could I forget? Today is also two years, seven months and 43 days since this blog didn’t hit the air. Also four [...]