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Being home for Navratri

posted on , by Vani Viswanathan

When the last time you celebrated Navratri at home was as a 17-year-old fretting about endless DAV exams and pathetic scores and friends visiting you for birthday, you can be forgiven for forgetting much. Like that you’re not supposed to touch the dolls on the kolu display, that you simply cannot keep leftover sundal in the fridge to eat the next day, and that dolls that you played with as a child haven’t been passed on over to another child but safeguarded by mother for display year after year. Celebrating ...

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September

posted on , by Vani Viswanathan

And before you know it, so much has happened. The rains are long gone, and the sun is shining so brightly that you beam in happiness when sunlight filters through your mesh windows into the room and casts its yellow glow on the wall. The days are hot, humid and you constantly wipe your face as you try to recollect how the sun crept back into your life. There are mosquitoes swarming the place, reminding you of last year’s Bombay winter that was mosquito-ridden and unexpectedly chilly ...

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July is almost over!

posted on , by Vani Viswanathan

It's the stupidest and most random title I have ever given to a post (it's worse than 'Random Ramblings-x' or 'What to name it') but the mind is simply panicking at the inactivity that the blog has seen in the last three months, so yes, whoever is reading this, just deal with it. What can I say about the last three months? Life's gone through a whirlwind of change, mostly good, but bringing along with it confusion that I'm sure is turning my hair grey. Over the summer, Chennai happened, with ...

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Happy happy today

posted on , by Vani Viswanathan

There is something downright magical about listening to Rahman in the red-and-white headphones. Increase volume, close eyes, be transported. Listen to the at-least-five levels of music that is making life surreal. Kannil, kannil, kannil inba kanneerae! I love my dissertation. It rocks. If over the next few months, due to the sheer volume of work I have to do for it, I begin to crib, do me a favour and point me to this post. I managed to cook Rasam all by myself today. Choosing the amount ...

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Scams, diseases and unwanted pregnancies - the life cycles of a Tamil soap

posted on , by Vani Viswanathan

For the last eight years, there has been one extremely amusing part to every trip back home. Tamil soaps. Old ones from before I left for Singapore or wherever, new ones that had been picked up in between. Ridiculous plots, absolutely unbelievable characters. Women whose sole aim was to ruin another family, with revenge strategies bordering on insanity. Men or women crooning like life was ending in the guise of background music. Grandfather watching these soaps as if his life depended on it. ...

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g(t) = a + by

posted on , by Vani Viswanathan

Somebody decided that studying development would involve a lot of economics. And somebody in my university decided that we would do economics a lot (times) lot. And these somebodies are currently ruining my life and sleep. I agree I should have studied these earlier, when they were being taught in class and I either vigorously nodded along – they all seemed to make sense then – or was nodding anyway – off to sleep. I agree that it’s four days before semester exams begin and I have no business ...

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Mornings in Mumbai...

posted on , by Vani Viswanathan

... are a raucous affair. I decided to blog about it this morning at 6am, when I woke up to a mixed alarm of howling dogs and mosque azaans. I lay in bed, eyes closed but mind completely awake and taking in the sounds of the weird morning and awakening. It was as if the azaans were echoing off each other - for the number of mosques in my locality, it's no surprise - there was not ...

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