Whispering Loud!

Zaira, my heart goes out to you. Reasons, many. If I could, I would wrap my arms around you and hold you close to my bosom because a warm hug is all a child of your age needs at times like these. I, like many other women, who must have watched the video, can relate to the atrocity you went through. Yes, we all have been through it and may be, many of us, if in the situation, would have dragged the man from one end of the aisle of that Vistara aircraft to another and beaten all the manhood out of him but, that is the courage that comes with age. A child of tender 17 years cannot figure out how to react and tears rolling down your cheeks speak of the hurt you must have felt. Hurt, no one should pass off as weakness. As much as I am aware of the emotional mayhem you must be going through, I am glad you brought the incident to everyone’s notice. I hope the concerned authorities find the details of that monster, which isn’t difficult to do, and take action against him. However, once t...

So, a lot of people have been asking, what is the reason for being critical of the 'warmest place on earth' ad by J and K Tourism? Do I hate it? Here is the answer. No, I don't. It's a beautiful advertisement & everyone associated has worked really hard on it. Moreover our tourism industry badly needed a booster like this. Then? I despise all the oratory around the slogan by quasi- liberals. Apparently, Kashmir is the beloved they can't stop falling in love with! These are not ordinary people. Their voices matter and their voices can make a change. You can see the impact their endorsement has had on the popularity of this ad.  Lamentable as it is, these voices turn soundless whenever the future of their 'beloved' Kashmir is blinded and maimed. No one among them can imagine, what a struggle life is for a half-widow. Even if anyone does, the impression, unsaid and unstated, will freeze to death. They don't make attempts to look into...

A woman is mostly in trouble because of another woman. I as a woman may not like the sound of this statement but that doesn't make it an incorrect one. It is true. Most of the taboos that surround us in our society are our own creation and men take full advantage of that. We may hate the patriarchal nature of our world but we can't deny that we helped in building it this way. Boys grow up among the women of their houses who are unfortunately always busy in weaving these taboos in front of them and once a boy turns into a man, he finds it natural to harass a woman and also expects that she will keep quiet. Not all get lucky with the latter part though. Some women fortunately have been brought up by fathers who, while shaping their daughters, made sure none of these taboos touch their skin. However, some do get victimised. The solution is the realisation that change comes from within. Nothing will change for women if women themselves are not ready for the change, if they themsel...

 (29-05-2017) It is a hot May afternoon and the second day of Ramadan. I have tried Word Power as well as Candy Crush to kill the monotony but nothing seems to work. Upamanyu Chatterjee’s English, August is an impeccable piece of literature but I am not able to read more than two paragraphs, after every new attempt. Thus, here I am, squiggling on my laptop. This boredom, however, is so intense that I feel like an illiterate. I am not able to form words and it’s going to be a task to put phrases and sentences together. Let’s see how soon I give up. In Kashmir ‘hot’ does not mean that birds would fall from the skies, dead; a puff of air from a near-by glacier is always there to flirt with the Sun. Except, summer in Kashmir can be cheerfully dull; Beautiful yet boring. The meadows and the lakes of Kashmir are enchanting beyond wizardry and the evil eye seems to have gotten comfortable with its stay. Sigh! 70 years of infestation and she can still cast a spell and leave you bre...

So, apparently ‘everyone knows’ Einstein flunked Maths in high school. Thus, every time we fail, Einstein becomes the saviour! But, here is a thing; Einstein never flunked Maths. In his own words, he had mastered differential and integral calculus before he was 15. He only failed once and that was an entrance examination that was given in French and at 11 he did not know much of the language. Now, this is not about Einstein, you can always Google him as I did for all this information,this is about failures. There is no shame in failing but there is plenty of it if one gets cosy with the idea and stops trying. Thus whenever you place Einstein on pedestal and present him as an exemplary failure to the young, do not forget to tell them that the key feature of Einstein’s personality is not that he failed but the plausible truth, that he never stopped. Researchers of leading universities believe that Einstein showed signs of Asperger’s as a child but, if true, even that did not stop him f...