d_demandasaurus

18 October 2023 – the day following the pronouncement of the judgement the front page of a newspaper had the news of the recent violent revival of the Israel – Palestine conflict, another news with a new inauguration of some infrastructure project, news about the honour killing about a couple who dared to have an inter-caste marriage and somewhere pressed in was the disappointment of the queer community on the same sex judgement that too in pointers.    Never did I ever think in this lifetime that I would be affected by a decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Court since 2014, played a pivotal role in modern Indian jurisprudence giving and widening the rights of Transsexuals, challenging the constitutionality of Section 377, upholding individual privacy rights in the Hadiya Marriage Case, declaring the Sabarimala Temple's practices unconstitutional and emphasising bail rights and further extended to various areas, including human rights, gender justice, and freedom of spe...

Space            ... has always fascinated me! I must have been 8-9 years old when I first read the encyclopedia and these graphic informative books about the Apollo Missions and NASA, at that age I was unaware of ISRO programs or the ones that were attempted by the Soviet Union.  I was 12 when I first saw E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, I still remember observing the weird shape of the spaceship that ET departs before which ET holds up a finger on Elliot's head and says I'll be right here... Damn 20 years !!!,  and that scene still makes me tear up. And then came Koi Mil Gaya which in hindsight was a different movie than E.T. but more on that later... What blew my mind was it took us merely 54 years from taking a flight in our atmosphere to putting a satellite in space. Of course, the American and Soviet space race stopped about 10 years later once Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin supported by the unsung Michael Collins landed on the lunar surface. Tal...

This is part 2 of an ongoing rant series - Part 1 is here. Disclaimer: This might get real so buckle up. Might have examples from popular science fiction movies, novels or fan theories which fyi is a new religion and you better be ready. The producers or studios may be releasing them for the money but there is appeal in it, there is art in it and there is science in it.  I moved to Delhi in the 9th standard, which apparently is a make-or-break year for an Indian kid and for his parents because it will or will not shape their child's future. After recovering from the cultural shock, the class dilemma and the need for extra-curricular exposure, with three other classmates I became a part of the team that would compete in the National Science Exhibition. We created a theme park that would self-sustain energy, to be specific there was a train that would run on solar power and would also have a turbine that would convert the energy of the wind into electricity. A seesaw would double up ...

Dil Chahta Hai (2001) has had a significant influence on me. The first time I saw it, I was enamoured by Akash's carefree attitude and his belief in letting others live their life. At that point, I aspired to be like him. As I matured, I found myself identifying more with Sid. I then, saw myself as Sameer someone who is goofy, uncertain, romantic and often afraid of the consequences of life. As funny as it may sound as I continue to age, I have come to appreciate Subodh’s practicality and adherence to a schedule for eg: sleeping at 9:30 pm on a Friday is not a bad thing! I've always maintained, that the characters in DCH represent the different phases of a millennial's life. With this realization, I am eager to continue with my series of unsent letters from an invisible but pivotal character from DCH. [In my previous letter, I wrote to Jai from Jaane tu ... Jaane Na (2009) as Meghna, you can find the link to that letter here .] Romance in these sarcastic times is rare, Moh...

Disclaimer: My mother has always emphasized the joy of writing letters. During my school days, she guided and taught me how to write letters as a lesson in English literature. We were even taught to write telegrams as our CBSE books were outdated. She once mentioned that letter writing is therapeutic and calming. The act of pouring out one's feelings onto paper is like unpacking one's mind. You shed a tear or two, let the emotions flow through your pen, and write more until you feel better. With this in mind, I bring back the lost art of letter writing for a fictional character, Meghna Pariyar from the movie Janne Tu.. Janne Na.., who yearned to express her thoughts and feelings to Jai Singh Rathod. Letter writing allows us to heal our hearts and minds, to release our emotions, and to let them flow freely onto the page. Its obvious that the characters, their arcs and the emotional holds are fictional, they possibly have link to the few of us who have feelings but don't want...

It’s been almost 5 months since we met. The last thing I posted was Corona and Coco ka, Rona. Coco has grown now, sadly he didn’t have any option. I would give anything to keep him Mishtu small. When we thought he was a girl and could fit on my palm. Isn’t that the irony of life as we know it, when we are kids we want to grow up and when we are all grown up and adulting we want to go back to a time when the multiplication table for 12 was one of life’s biggest issues. But that’s the thing none of us have any option for growth, evolution on progress. Change is the only constant they say. Growth in these tough times isn’t avertible it’s unavoidable.  Instead of rising up the bar and staying safe, I see people loitering on the streets, getting vegetables that are available in sabzi mandis , the Baghjan gas leak in Assam has become a tourist spot, IPL has failed to divert the attention of the masses, CAA is a forgotten cause and we have a newfound rivalry for local Chinese products tha...

Disclaimer : Y es, this is another note where I am not talking about any person living or dead, the resemblance is neither uncanny nor eerie. Especially politicians or ministers or chiefs, I fear them and I have my reasons. I dare not speak against the ideology the majority is in support of.  This is my first attempt to write something about the future, a dystopian future to be precise. The idea of a dystopian plot is to predict the future bearing in mind current changes. That being said, I think a Zombie apocalypse is the first thing I would have predicted after a global pandemic. Zombies? These slow creatures that are bloodthirsty because they have none, they do not have souls, they do not have minds, they just have greed for blood. I’ve always felt Zombies are closer to greedy, self-centred leaders political or otherwise, who crave just one thing power. More Powar! Pawar over mODIfication over everything names of cities, stations, teams of Shivs’.  - - - - - - - - - - - - -...