Saturday, December 29, 2018

Libra


I took this picture just before dawn in 1990, in the atrium of my old house in MRC Nagar. I saw the slice of blue in a gap in the parapet around the first floor of the atrium, and the shadowed angles which formed an L. I had to lie on the floor on my stomach, and twist my body to get the exact vantage that I needed.

My late, foolish but loving dog, Sheru, flopped down beside me for moral support. No one else was awake but us. That sliver of celestial blue, and the memory of that morning with my dog, gives me a moment of happiness.

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Sweeping the Heavens


With invention and unlimited imagination, we have made and are making our current home, Earth, inevitably impoverished; and who knows, perhaps soon even hostile. We are making, therefore, our new home ready for us, to do the same in outer space. And from there? Not to worry, there is a lot of space for us to keep on harming and moving away from, within our own galaxy and even beyond.

Monday, December 17, 2018

Balika Badhu


a child bride


The subject of the child bride must be part of almost all human cultures, manifesting itself in different forms, like, at best, marriage; at worst kidnapping, molestation, rape, purchase, prostitution, enslavement, etc.

In India, while myriads of writers have dealt with the subject, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhya, arguably one of the best writers of prose of whom India, and particularly Bengal, are proud, wrote most movingly on the subject, to emancipate the girl child as well as women.

There have been countless books on the subject. The ones that have been filmed in India have, among them, one which recurs again and again because of its name, Balika Bodhu (English: Child Bride), written by Bimal Kar, who received the Sahitya Akademi award, India's highest award for literature, in 1975.

In reality, the premium on virginity or on very young females continues to fascinate the so-called virility and sexual dominance of men throughout the world, whether through marriage or without it.

Indeed, human sexuality, at best, is the most unfair among all living creatures. At worst, it is 'inhuman'. Apart from Men being the main benefactors, in a lighter vein, the second biggest beneficiary is the profession of psychiatry.

My picture is a contrast to what I have written about, because of the tranquility and joy of anticipation in the eyes of the subject.

Pardon me if I have been unfair to the fair or unfair.

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Konarak, the Chariot of the Sun


Taken circa 1949. Note the people climbing the steps to the right, to see the chariot's enormous size. I took this picture with a borrowed box camera.