Reflections

 It must be the place! I am sure of it this time.  It must also be the people!  They make the place! What about the biting cold and the ice like drizzle? Can’t be ignored. Along with all this it is also the fact that writing and love happen in isolation; removed from daily chaos, mundane routine and a cluttered mind. I have been counting down for the Jaipur Literary Festival 2015. It’s become a favourite from the time I visited it in 2012 which was my first time exposure to the festival in the pink city which huddled up its people in the month of January! The first thing I remember about the visit is its vibrancy; of Jaipur and of  JLF. They reflected upon each other. The traditional Rajasthani warmth softened the bone biting cold to an extent. Coming from a land which we consider as God’s own, hospitality was taken for granted by us. But what I experienced in Jaipur was something else; it beat it all. Right from the rickshawalla and the tea vendor to a passerby w...

Don’t let the lack of familiarity stop you from letting be Don’t let the ways of the world thwart your connect with the free spirit within Don’t let the picking of speed and the piercing wind shut you off from the pleasure that is yet to be Things  grow richer in shade and warmer in feel on a pillion ride 

I stole some precious moments from you while you were here and made them mine. I created a memory with them. If Chaucer finds April the cruelest month, I would say December is the friendliest. It brought in visitors for me; from near and far. They brought back the precious years of growing up; from far away Germany to the quaint small town of Chengaroor in Kerala. Friends across boundaries and language and colour. . .  Friendships that felt its way through the innate innocence and warmth of being a child. From the old musty corridors of Little Flower LP School in Chengaroor, Kerala, was the first and much awaited visit that was on the cards. The date was just round the corner; December 11 th to be precise. I was meeting my childhood friend from class 2 after 34 years. Thanks to WhatsApp which brought us back together, we had already been in touch for around 6 months. We made the most of the reconnect established, albeit virtually. From the 2 nd standard classroom, way b...

An experimental venture at synching the media of cinema and theatre and of developing a play within the reel, Njaan from Ranjith Balakrishnan is an experience, very different from almost all his other movies. I got to watch it last Saturday at the Bangalore International Film Festival and if you were to ask me what’s best about the movie, I would say, the cast, hands down! The characters were chosen sensibly and chosen right. Subtlety is Ranjith’s hallmark expression and he does it sublimely. There are no power-packed dialogues, no far- too- colourful song and dance sequences or unrealistic stunts to indicate heights of emotions; instead, the magically subtle and sensual expressions that speak volumes.  Each one of the characters brought almost their whole selves on to the screen. Dulquar appeared a bit strained, at places, both in his act and in dialogue delivery, but otherwise was endearing and showed a lot of potential. A Prithvi Raj or a Fahad Fazil, would probably not h...

I came across a beautiful piece of writing in Malayalam by a gifted story teller and quintessential romantic. Ranjith Balakrishnan, a much acclaimed script writer and ace director from the Malayalam film industry takes us through his romantic ideals. A note from someone who has shown us various dimensions to romantic relationships through many of his movies. SHE A captivating melody, a beautiful poem, a couple of mesmerizing lines from a favourite book- the experience becomes complete when there is someone alongside me. There is incredible joy in enjoying an experience with someone; be it sex or a song or even a journey together. This coming together need not be between a man and a woman; it could be between two living beings or two minds. I cannot enjoy something on my own. My happiness becomes complete when I share it with someone who is close to me. Romanticism for me is not to be enjoyed in solitude but to be shared with someone dear. The notion of romance is a very ...

Malayalam was not the first language that I learnt to speak. I had a tough time trying to decipher the script which was a maze of swirls and twirls along with animal looking letters when I first attacked it head on. I still had my allegiance to German, having been born and raised there till the age of eleven, but I was curious enough to get myself acquainted with this new tongue which I was then told was not just my mother’s but my father’s tongue as well. It was my teacher in school, Sharada teacher as we called her reverently, in faraway Shoranur, a town which housed culture and art and history, who instilled a love for the language in me. I don’t remember how she did it but I remember listening to her speak in Malayalam with rapt attention and taking down notes with a fervour that I didn’t show in any of the other classes. It was in her classes that I got familiar with the most elaborate of details from the stories in the Hindu Puranas(epics). With college days came along the world...

I have always liked the sound of the phrase Alma mater but never really went behind the depth of what it meant till now. A little bit of research helped me understand that the phrase has had its origin from Latin and that it roughly translates in to ‘Nourishing mother’ in English! Someone who nurtures and thus moulds you! This piece is about my alma mater who played a big role in shaping me up as a person. Down memory lane… way back in 1982. With roots firmly placed in Kerala our doctor parents working in Germany made sure that we received an upbringing which went along with theirs. So here we were, my little sister and I, away from hearth and home and in a completely foreign land with an even more alien language. As we walked in to the gates of Little Flower LP School Chengaroor, all the way from far away Germany we were engulfed in to the folds of warmth and security of our alma mater, from the first day on. In place of our mom our alma mater stood by us in our early years of growi...