Friday, January 31, 2014

Childhood's End


Madhavi, 1968

The year was 1968, give or take one, and Sholavaram held its first, perhaps India's first, international car-racing event. Madhavi, you were about six-eight years old? Your parents, Mukund and Geeta, and some friends, I don't know how, succeeded in forcing me to go with them to see the races. Having zero if not minus interest in the zoom-zoooom-zzrrrooom proceedings, where I could not even zzzzzzz, I spend my most of my time looking at people. I was timid about taking photographs without permission, so I mostly took pictures within the group where I was a reluctant participant. I think I remember your name, Madhavi? Having already taken some of your wide-eyed pictures, I got this one, and have prized it.

Like passengers in a railway compartment or at a station, where culturally and linguistically different, divergent people meet and part, our lives also peeled away.

I have several pictures of your mother Geeta, and your grandfather, Pratap Rai Mehta, both in my collection and posted on my blog, as well as a couple of yours. I saw your mother, father and your brand-new (to me) brother last in 1995, at my one-man show sponsored by the US Consulate at Bangalore, but learned very little about you. I wanted to know about you, and more, but in the crowded hall, except for pleasantries, nothing much could be exchanged.

 By chance, if you recognise this picture, me or my name, contact me: I am very eager to know about what happened, and is happening, to you. You must be in your early 50s by now; a mother perhaps, and why not also, maybe, a grandmother. I hope very much that life has not wearied you, and that you have still not lost your wide-eyed curiosity.


Thursday, January 30, 2014

Night


night
returns you
to me

------------------
Hemantha Kumar Pamarthy wrote:
Jo mujhe kaheni hai tum se
woh baat abhi baaki hai
baat abhi baaki hai, raat abhi baaki hai

Dil ko qaraar aaya nahin
chhed de haaye woh naghma
tu ne jo gaaya nahin
raat abhi baaki hai..........

:-)
my reply:
kasme vaade
pyaar wafaa sab
raatein hain
raaton ka kya
jab tak voh subaah
nayi nahin aati
leke mayavati
ka saaya

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Three


Seven Seven

Three seven seven explained:

Chapter XVI, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (1861), introduced during the British rule of India, criminalises sexual activities "against the order of nature", including homosexual acts.
“Article 377. Unnatural offences.—Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. Explanation.—Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section.”
The section was declared unconstitutional with respect to sex between consenting adults by the High Court of Delhi on 2 July 2009. That judgement was overturned by the Supreme Court of India on 11 December 2013, with the Court holding that amending or repealing Section 377 should be a matter left to Parliament, not the judiciary.

On 28 January 2014, The Supreme Court refused to reconsider its verdict. Now, it is up to the Parliament to pass a law overturning Article 377,reflecting contemporary ideas on the subject of what is "unnatural", taking into consideration societal, cultural and religious points of view, attitudes and understanding.

In this regard I invite you to visit my earlier post, Sexualitybisexuality (click the link), with photographs and a poem concerning the same issue.

You may also look out for the India Today cover story featuring views across the Indian cultural spectrum, with award-winning author Vikram Seth on a stark, startling cover.


Ask Rahul Anything...

... anything at all: just click here.


Monday, January 27, 2014

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Monday, January 13, 2014

Through the Glass, Brightly


better to wonder
than try to comprehend
wicked contours
and splintered splices
of bewildering chaos
and contradiction
of populous life

drown it
to the point of distortion
until breathing halts

------------------------
Anonymous wrote:

ek taral sawaal
wo gagan vishaal
par jhoomti daal
kya kiya kamaal
kaisey buna ye jaal

------------------------
Anonymous wrote:

wicked contours and splintered splices of bewildering chaos and contradiction of populous life ... 

What an arrangement of words, what a 'fantastic' realistic description of the myriad shades of the existence phenomenon . Drowning it to the point of distortion would amplify the contradictions and magnify the bewilderment... perhaps liberating one from the need to comprehend. i love the audacity with which the djinn of chaos has been bottled (or glassed). 

And how deliciously the gold and green cascade down to nestle in the shaded base.

Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Nursery


rhyme
beyond reason

----------------
Anonymous wrote:

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the books that i would take to the proverbial island where im going to be marooned with or without a tree house. Every time I have read it, I have been shaken and moved. Your picture represents to me the most lasing image i have of the book. 

There was a tree nook where Boo Radley mostly an invisible presence used to leave odd gifts for the young sibling protagonists. I consider your blog to be that tree, and each post a gift.

Today's picture is the perfect blend of word and image: The unlikely nursery, the sprout that has no particular reason to be there and the rhythm it creates with the bark here and the branches beyond.

I just saw another rhyme in the picture. The marks on the ashen bark and the throbbing veins of the leaves, life dead and dying and life throbbing and pushing. 

Ahhh beauty. Thank you.