Convergent Lines

Another semester gone by, in the usual uncompromising way that leaves one to wonder whether it was indeed four entire months it had lasted! But this time, not without a couple of delightful intermissions—decorating memories like wild flowers on the barren highway. Midway through autumn, after three colorful days of Durga Pujo it was time to set off. On the road and in the air, with my parents and my uncle, a week and a day on a much-expected sojourn in Kerala. From Kochi to Allepuzha, it was a soothing, if not unforgettable experience. The smell of history in the streets of Kochi, the untainted verdure of Munnar, the serenity of the backwaters—the waves of new sensations left a handful of pretty sea-shells to savor. The prettiest of them all, the one with the shining pearl, was Kanyakumari—the tip of India’s giant ankle that is worthy of its crown. First up there was a visit to the much venerated temple of Kanyakumari. The smell of its damp, old walls, the incessant smoke from burn...

October is here, and so are the Commonwealth Games!! It is arguably one of the best things that has happened to India in recent years—yet it just can’t seem to find a way out of the headlines, and for all the wrong reasons! When was the last time the front page of your daily newspaper did not sport a story on how the games have turned into a scheme for generating “common wealth” for a select group of individuals? So, given the situation, what can I, an educated young man, far away from the disquiet and the controversies surrounding the games do about it all? Well, at least I can think, and often it is at this basic level that people falter—when things happen thick and fast, they forget to think. So I was thinking… and the first thing that became clear to me was that the media has made a meal out of the entire thing. I mean it’s not that one should shut his eyes or turn a deaf ear to all the audio visual evidence in support of everything that has been going wrong in the Games. It’s just...

This has really been a long time coming. I say that not only because I’ve been thinking about it for a long time now, but also that I’ve been filling up my personal diaries with thoughts and scraps of imagination that could easily have fitted into a personal blog. What kept me waiting all this time was perhaps an overwhelming sense of possessiveness towards my own thoughts and feelings. My writings have always been very close to my heart, as honest an expression of myself as only a few people closest to me know about. Now, after 3 years in college, having experienced some of the good, bad and the ugly and having seen a little bit of the world, my heart tells me it’s time to let go. To let go of those painted butterflies I have been holding in my palm for long—now I think they are strong enough to fly! I am not a religious person, although there are certain things I worship—poetry is one of them. Poetic expressions are everywhere, but most of all they are in your mind, intertwined in e...