UjaLa la land

  Plate with left over food.

  kitchen once when Pk was at work A song, not a poem. Dedicated to my younger brother, who gifted me a coffee maker this year so that I can make better coffee, just like he could even without a coffee maker. Lyrics of Hungry Baby Not Camera Shy He steps out of his door, knocks on my room once more, goes to the kitchen and things start looking shadyy..... It's a hungry baby, baby, baby, a hungry baby Sometimes he is found Chopping onions, sizzling sound But most times it dough and chapatis so round almost like a skilled ladyyyyy.... That's my hungry baby, baby, baby, My hungry baby Hand to mouth is not existence It's his literal game Eating Healthy instead of tastey would be such a shame Corn instead of cheese, Bitter Gaurd unleashed is all it takes to meet an angry babyyyy but all he is really is a hungry baby, baby, baby,  A Hungry baby Fin.

If you are a young lover, this is for you. If you are struggling to make your place in the world, this is no roadmap but a boulder you can sit on and rest in your journey. If you find yourself walking a tight rope between practicality and idealism, this is no answer but a Pandora's box of questions you should never avoid. These thoughts would make more sense to you if you watched the 2001 crime thriller, Moksha by Ashok Mehta, starring Arjun Rampal and Manisha Koirala.  I remember when I fell in love for the first time. When my heart, body, and mind finally confessed and yielded like an overflowing dam. When I would often find my soul dancing in my body. I was intoxicated. I was convinced, and I am still convinced. No one can love like me. There is no one as crazy, as loyal, as smitten, as definite, as loving, as accepting and as powerful as I can be in love, in separation, in longing, in death.  Director Ashok Mehta had envisioned the same madness in the character of Manisha ...

-Art work by Ujala I saw a YouTube thumbnail featuring Simen Sinek and Trevor Noah with orange footnotes in all caps " IS SMALL TALK BETTER THAN LONG TALK?" . It was one of the days among other days. I was scrolling YouTube with some purpose I can't recall. I got lost again in the allure of algorithms, which always helped me forget my painful longings of inner realization for a good number of hours. It sometimes worked so well that it would help me hide from myself and my callings for days. I was always at loggerheads with my best friend on the issue of small talks. I saw no point in conversations if it could not make people truly express, and while doing so, reflect on what they just said and heard. Reporting that you had dinner and are gaining a bit of weight these days, is all nonsense. She would always counter how long talks can be meaningful only if they lie amidst several small talks. That not everyone has the luxury of time and space for such reflections, and it ca...

A picture I received on Whatsapp  from a hotel room in Hyderabad. Mr. Winter and his Wife have been harming me for years. The W of  Mr. Winter and the W of his Wife They both bewitch the W of my Windows which refuse to move, refuse to talk. The couple fill my eyes with dread  when I watch them kill little kittens and puppies With utmost impunity Poison all good food with cold staleness Send electric shocks in the shower and burn any touchwood ever uttered They roar, haul, and haunt houses in twilight They laugh loudly as the trees shrink their leaves to spread them back only when they are long gone. The stone-cold savages know no grace They are molesters who go on scratching scalps and sucking the skin dry I am not sure if Mrs. Winter is aware of the lips Mr. Winter has been biting, indiscriminately. I have seen Mrs. Winter freezing time,  so that the world stops and only her husband makes progress. Mr. Winter on the other hand pompously promenades in his creamy whit...

Just another couple on the internet The Supreme Court of India recently expressed its inability to provide the rights of marriage to the LGBTQIA+ community. The community has been asked to knock on the doors of the legislature, with the Judiciary only being able to provide so much (protection from police harassment and discrimination in all institutions of the country). At the same time, members of the ruling party call the entire movement an 'urban elitist movement' making the bleak prospects of recognition of queer marriages pretty apparent in India. It can be discomforting to learn that a section of society has been denied rights that are so central to the lives of the rest of the country. Out of 132 countries that have decriminalized homosexuality, only 32 have legalized same-sex marriage, and yet the ramifications of the same are larger for a country like India. However, when I put this news in the context of the heated discussions on the 'decreasing relevance of marri...