Writer's Blog

My reading habit has been married to me, in a loyal bond, since I was 8 years old. It began by riffling through stacks of decades old annual issues of Readers Digest & Readers Digest Review that my maternal grandpa collected. I also noticed very intimidating books stacked up alongwith them, but they were usually too big in size to handle for me. Encouraged by the only habit that seemed to keep me quiet & stuck to one spot, my mother took me to the only bookstore in Guwahati with a sizeable collection of fiction- Modern Book Store, Pan Bazaar. And thus began the quantum graduation journey from Enid Blyton, to Nancy Drew & to the Godfather in less than 365 days. Thankfully, in a family where every man & woman worked for a living, no one took notice when I picked up 'The CarpetBaggers' by Harold Robbins, or Gore Vidal classics at the ripe age of 9. My brother scowled for half a minute, then smiled and said 'Now you & I can share our books!'. Indian...

There's something about the Holocaust that fascinates me in an obssesive, continous manner. I remember, having picked up the Britannica editions at home, the first pictures of the survivers of Auschwitz & Riga made my blood curdle. And then, I begun reading. My mind couldn't go around the amount of human cruelty inflicted by just one nation on 11 million people. I am not alone in that fascination. Hollywood filmmakers, right from the onset of Nazi rule in Germany, have been ensnared by the fodder provided by the progression of the moustachiod monster & then, his cold, clinical hegemony over Europe. I have diligently researched and caught up on the best of these films. (I am quite certain there will be more European films from this genre that I am yet to explore.) So far, there are some, which I consider absolutely priceless. And I would revisit them again & again. Even if the reader might frown upon the morbidity of this choice, I will argue, that for the sake o...

I won't make an apology for writing infrequently, rather, a confession. I was stuck in the worst job in the world (other than perhaps, being a trainee Somalian pirate or trainee mujahideen in the NWFP). Therefore, the lifespring of inspiration now springs unhindered by negativity & witch craft like evil energies ! Let me start with my first love, reading. I am absolutely enthralled a new book - The Palace of Illusions- by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. While I have never read the author before, a friend recommended this account of Draupadi's Mahabharata to me. Daunting subject matter to tackle, this lady writes with the simplistic flourish of a normal human voice, without any of the pretentious Thesaurus like similies that plague modern Indian writing in English. But my connect with this Mahabharata is perhaps a lot deeper than just this book. As a child, when the monsoon breeze would make the betel nut trees around my maternal grand mother's house sway, and twilight c...

I have taken a long, slow, unproductive break from blogging, simply because, I hadn't found anything inspiring enough. An episode of Oprah though, has done the job. I am watching Laura Bush, her two twins, (jenna & miss whats her name bush), waxing eloquent on life in the White House.  Life altering questions like- how difficult it was, to go along with George's decision to run for president, how the daughter's lives would be 'ruined', how Laura had  to work on getting George over his drinking habit & how Jenna Bush has beeen 'constantly crying' while reading her mother's autobiography. Even as America's best talk show hostess pushes & prods Laura Bush, she smiles through it beningly, with her hair, skin & lipstick perfectly in place, looking radiant as only a stay in the White House can make you look. The daughters, well, I have always thought could pass off as any giggling gaggle of girls, drunk on breezers & bacardi, outside ...

I often contemplate writing about the randomness about the much applauded Academy awards. Actually, this year, since Mallika Sherawat walked in with the caterers & Abhi- Ash also made it to the exalted red carpet, I kinda gave up. Ash might have been able to ace a couple of passes thanks to an anti ageing cream, but Mallika's only certifiable qualification has to be her weighty chest size. Yet, some Oscar decisions baffle me. Critics, film reviewers & movie buffs end up debating Why a Film Won. But I would rather point out to some spiffy reasons about why some films/ film folk very obviously Didnt win. Instance number 1: Tom Cruise. A rewatch of ' A few Good Men' made me rewind the clock to 1992. The spirited performance about a yuppie lawyer's sudden passionate turn for 'honor' simply didnt make it to the Best Actor nomination list. But that's probably because Cruise was taking on some doyens of acting who had been given a miss long enough! Not...

For folks who have known me for a while, watching movies is the most important task/hobby/pleasure activity that I indulge it. And I dont always go to the rather over priced, caramel infested multiplexes to get my celluloid dose. Rarely is there a film  or documentary that leaves a lasting impact on me and actually gets me inspired to do something. (Again for those who know me well, my faux nationalistic conscience is non existent & marked by cynicism). Yet Burma VJ, 2010's Oscar winning documentary is one such very rare gem. Kuddos to the stuffed shirts at the Academy that this miniscule, South East Asian nation more or less forgotten by her big neighbours & the United Nations, inspired them to actually make a correct choice. The Oscar win stamp makes a whole lot of diffference to a documentary. To cut a long story short, Burma VJ is entirely shot amidst Burma's 2007 peaceful uprisings by Buddhist monks & common people alongwith students. The protests that st...

I often hope to erase the annoying image of a bollywood superstar humbly inviting me with folded palms to believe that privilege banking & NRI banking come first to a certain Indian bank. I happen to hold a couple of accounts with this one, so inevitably, their promises have registered over the years. Yet a singular experience with three branches of this popular bank today brought home certain home truths about modern finance vis a vis the regular consumer. I needed to make a wire transfer to a foreign bank, a process that involves complexities that only a bank employee can solve & a process that doesnt neccesarily earn a bank revenue. So what I really got, despite previous phone calls, was a refusal of this service in one branch, a totally lost employee trying haplessly to navigate the serpentine online processeses of an international wire transfer & finally, after a long wait at the third branch, the transfer half done & held up due to lack of functional printers!...