Feminist Rantings

Writing about Manipur, I have said it before, has the risk of unleashing some of your own Frankenstein. Also capturing the whole story would require as much time as Vyas took to write his world famous piece, even when computer aided. But Manipur throws so many stories at you per second that it makes you feel laziness would be waste of resources. The last time I was here in the middle of the economic blockade that benefited every legal and illegal entrepreneur including the state, the oil companies and the airlines. Flight tickets from Imphal to Guwahati were at a ridiculous twenty two thousand, or so which is more than what I intend to spend in my impending South-East Asia holiday, airfare included. Due to the blockade, supposedly nothing was coming into the state. But you could see hundreds of enthusiastic local business people selling petrol and diesel in mineral water bottles outside every petrol pump. At its peak, petrol was being sold at Rs.120/lit and diesel at Rs.80. Needless to...

There was a little girl who did not know how to read or write. She was completely illiterate. Com-plete-ly il-lite-rates are people who can not read and write. Now, the little girl could talk perfectly of course. And on top of that she could sing, dance, scream her head off, ski, swim, climb trees and do many other things. She could even stand on her hands, hang her head upside down and walk around like that. If you show her a picture of a Blue Whale and ask her what it is, she would jump with joy and while she is still jumping she would tell you it is a Blue Whale! That little girl was a handful her mother said. Her name was a mouthful her father said. Her father like many fathers was away while she was born. So her mother named her mouthful because she screamed a lot when she was just born a baby. So, the girl with the mouthful name could do many things and could not read or write. Although she had fun most of the time there were times when she could no...

Saturine people, Adim says, are influenced by the planet or the God or the energy of Saturn or Xani in Oxomia. The Saturines tend to be relaxed and non-controlling in life. They are not very ambitious as opposed to sun people who are managerial and control-freaks. Going by the definition, many people I know look like they are heavily influenced by the jewellered planet. There are some seriously relaxed people I know whose blanket slogan in any situation in life is – I-am-ok-with-everything. Sometimes with raised hands. The only thing they have managed in their lives is to have a good time without doing much for it. They have managed to let others manage their lives while they relax and lie low while life passes by. Going by my employment history (once I sat on a boss’s back while he was hunched on the floor looking for some papers that had flown away because I did not clip them properly), I am definitely influenced by the blue God. From the first job onwards, I have managed to do...

A friend and I needed a break in life. We needed time to find meaning and space to get perspective. A well travelled friend suggested Pokhara in Nepal . He promised veritable paradise. We packed at the speed of light and in true spiritual fashion decided to travel by land knowing there is no shortcut to heaven. ‘A train to New Jalpaiguri, a taxi from the train station to the border at Kakarbhitta, an overnight bus from border to Pokhra. Simple.’ – I explained to my friend. The shrug in her shoulder showed she was already in paradise and I should not bother her with worldly logistical issues. Reaching NJP in the morning, we took a taxi to Kakarbhitta immediately. We spent the day at a dingy hotel in this border town and waited for the bus till evening. ‘It will take 14 hours and the bus has push back seats.’ – informed our slime coated travel agent. ‘You must book a hotel from here. It is very difficult to find hotels there. We have deluxe rooms which will cost you only 400 Indian’, ...

At the end of a failed attempt to reach Kunming (in China) from Margherita (in Assam) we were quick to settle for a resort nearby. This is what I enjoy most about travelling with my friends - this ability to happily settle for rabbit piss while you were actually looking for moonshine. When we started from Guwahati 650 kilometres ago, no one knew where we were going. Such is the level of meticulous planning and detailed organisation of the ensemble we were travelling in. The ensemble performs music and is quite popularly known. Thankfully they had a show in Margherita. Or we would not even know where to go from Guwahati. Somewhere through the 650 km journey, from Guwahati to Margherita, that for some inexplicable reason started at 2 am in the morning, we managed to decide that we will go somewhere beyond Margherita and visit unknown frontiers and untouched forests. Making decision you must know is more difficult than driving 650 km straight through a night and more dangerous than the un...