Nescience

Mumbai baffles me. A lot has been written about it. Songs have been sung, films have been made, stories have been told. For me, Mumbai has not quite been the city of dreams. But it has given me something else - hope. I came to Mumbai in June 2015, with a heavy suitcase containing all my material posessions, and a heart heavy with dread and anticipation. My love for this city blows hot and cold, but it's not that fiery obsession that would consume my soul - that honour is reserved solely for my beloved Pune. My self is torn between these two places, which are for all accounts as dissimilar as chalk and cheese, but are similar only in my regard for them. One is my 'janmabhoomi'. The other, in all probability shall become my 'karmabhoomi',  In a few days, this year will end. This year, that turned my life upside down. This year which closed some chapters in my life, and started some new ones. This year taught me that dawn comes after the darkest hour, that the...

The last session of Arbhaat Short Film Club was nothing short of memorable. As I prepared to leave the house, I began thinking of all the films I had seen, some that I had missed, and a few that I wish I had missed. We are all familiar with death. For many years, I existed in a happy bubble where death only called upon others and loss was unknown. It was just a fact of life - something I knew I would have to deal with eventually, but sometime in the distant future. It all changed, as things inevitably do. Death was no longer impersonal, and it never receded into the background again. If I could describe Rajesh S. Jala's documentary, 'Children of Pyre', in one world, it would be 'unsettling'. Many movies force us to face our own mortality - the good ones allow us to come to terms with it in one way or the other. 'Children of Pyre' tears down those blinkers by focusing on the life of seven children who work at the Manikarnika Ghat, in Varanasi. Loc...

Having missed the last two sessions of Arbhaat, I was quite eager to head over to NFAI last Thursday. The theme was 'Sound and music'. I have begun to love the first Thursday of every month. It is a much welcome break from the monotony, and to some extent, decides what I will be immersed in the rest of the month. In almost every session I have been struck by some of the films that are screened - so poignant, so simple yet of such breathtaking complexity, films that tell the truth and the films that lie almost lovingly.  I do not claim a deeper understanding of this visual medium - indeed, it is words that I string around myself - but over the past year, I have come to realize the advantages and shortcomings of both the media. I cannot ever forget Telephone, a film by Shabnam Chopra, which had been screened at the 9th session. Based on a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, the film was a psychological thriller which held me spellbound and terrified me to my very core. When...

The 8th session of Arbhaat Short film club took place on the 7th. The theme was 'Gender' . Even though I had received the programme note beforehand, I had not had the time to go through it. So when I turned up at NFAI, I had my own preconceived notions about what type of films might be screened. Gender - the very word evokes a dichotomy - male and female, man and woman. I was expecting something on these very lines - gender discrimination, female foeticide or violence on women, maybe. I had even wondered about the gender roles in India, juxtaposed against that in the rest of the world. But the films were entirely different, and delightfully so. Instead of taking on these issues, which nonetheless important, the films touched a different range of issues altogether, which, though concerned intimately with the theme of gender, are hardly at the forefront of discussions on it. But before, a short film on the life of Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar was shown. It was a go...

  My Doodle recipe is a part of Easy Doodle Recipe contest at BlogAdda.com in association with TastyKhana.com

I had so much fun drawing the first doodle, that I finally succumbed to the urge and made this. My Doodle recipe is a part of Easy Doodle Recipe contest at BlogAdda.com in association with TastyKhana.com

Aaditee taught me how to make cake in a cup. Here is the recipe: My Doodle recipe is a part of Easy Doodle Recipe contest at BlogAdda.com in association with TastyKhana.com