Inner Metamorphosis

The idea that government must be involved in family planning presupposes the inherent utility in having lesser population, which would presumptively put our resources to lesser strain. It is argued that since our resources are limited, the people would receive a better share of them, if lesser number were to compete for them.  Family planning has no cultural ethos in India as newly wedded couples are typically blessed to have as many children as possible by elders. Somehow, modern thinking (western to be accurate) has led us to this ‘realisation’ that more means trouble. This informs our basic understanding of the concept of family planning and remains so entrenched and few if ever have tried to question it. The utopian scenario that family planning aims for is a working couple with abundant resources having to spend them all on their one child as against a relatively poorer family struggling to meet ends with many children. This contrast in prospects bet...

Seven years ago I wrote my   first blogpost   this day more to seize the joy of seeing my writing in digital print than any literary ambition. The irony of launching it on Valentine’s Day won't be lost on my friends – couldn’t a boring philosopher-aspirant find a better day? Nonetheless, the occasion offers an opportune time to survey my work. Looking back at   my   earliest   works   with cold blood, I can still perceive the   raw   enthusiasm   of a   young thinker   impelled by the desire to   express   his   deeply considered opinions   which deserved wider circulation. Writing is primarily an act of   ego , for it presumes that someone out there might actually want to read you. I started mostly with philosophical pieces, apart from lengthy posts on the then trending   Telangana movement conversations . Some of them appear reasonably well-argued to me even today, though wanting in many as...

Outside the fictional landscape of The Fountainhead , how would a real-life Howard Roark fare? What might be the fate of an individualistic professional who stubbornly chooses to struggle for what he believes to be true and right instead of compromising his vision and values? The non-fictional counterpart of The Fountainhead may as well be “ The Killing of an Author ” . In the former, the protagonist is finally rewarded with flourishing career, reputation and the leading lady. How does narrator-protagonist of the latter book do in real life? This is a true story, and the author uses real-life names of many prominent people to retain the authenticity of the narrative. Book Struggling his way through lower-middle class Mangalore family, Richard Crasta clears IAS exam only to find his calling in writing.  Off he flies to the land of opportunities, US, where his creative wings would be at full liberty to sour unrestrained – or so he feels! It begins with what ...

When a flood occurs, we deduce that an overflow elsewhere caused it. But a flood of emotions can suddenly overwhelm us without any link visible to the mental eye. For no apparent reason, I recollect a period from many, many years ago. “So, what were you doing today?” asked my friend who just returned to home. “Nothing. Nothing at all,” said I. Far from being an outlier, this was the feature of my then daily life. We weren’t the typical roomies. I had an unfinished business at the place he was working, and I called him asking if he could accommodate me. He readily agreed, and soon I found myself in a remotely located independent house in non-descript part of a small town from a crowded apartment in a bursting megacity.  People find short, unavoidable moments of seclusion during otherwise hectic schedules unbearable. But there was this time when even if I were to shout at top of my lungs, the only ears to hear it would be mine. My friend would be away at work during day...

Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer struck by the macabre expanse of turtle skeletons probably resulting from being eaten alive by wild dogs wrote,” For what offence must they suffer this agony? What is the point of the whole scene of horror? The only answer is that the will to live thus objectifies itself.”   All creatures are thus instinctively evolved to cling tenaciously to life (both hunter and hunted), notwithstanding the tremendous odds. The book in review is one such tale of survival amid unbelievably horrendous tribulations. A published author with critical acclaim chances upon his father’s handwritten manuscript in a rusting steel trunk and discovers a “tale of unmitigated horror”*. Besides stray references, the father would never reveal the true depths of despair he underwent. For this was a job his son was destined to undertake. After lying around for 50 years, these papers are found by the son who edits and publishes them and our grand old man who has seen it all in...

Those unacquainted with this city’s ethos may find the typical Hyderabadi obsession with Irani Chai (tea) amusing. Some may even accuse them of being chai-addicts, which (justifiably, I may add) is met by strong denial, nay defensive, “ Others may as well be called air-addicts or water-addicts then .” For the younger generation the ideal venue of a get-together begins with Cafe Coffee Day / McDonalds (when hard-pressed on cash!) and might extend to any upper limit when feasible. But before affluenza took over the Y2K generation, Irani Cafes were the most popular meeting venue for the cash-strapped teens. In a bid to appear more Western than the West we have sadly abandoned efforts to modernize our traditional outlets and instead sought to westernize them. The joyous conversations and noisy ambiance has since been replaced with uneasy silence punctuated with tight-lipped formal conversations. But to my mind nothing beats the cluttered, crowded Irani Cafes that always a...

Can the flame of faith sustain the storm of helplessly witnessing one’s God’s idol smashed to pieces? Will an ideologue who witnesses the entire edifice of her perspective crumble under the weight of truth revert or revolt? AAVARANA as Bhyrappa explains in the preface is an act of concealing truth. And our intensely ideological, middle-aged protagonist experiences a catharsis of sorts when confronted with truth, a truth that shines through the pervasive deception if only one looks for it. Plot Razia, an ex-Hindu who converted to marry her Muslim college-mate, has an ‘enlightened’ view of history, thanks to the ‘progressive’ arts course at the film-institute she and her husband Amir have been through. She finds her father’s fierce opposition to her marriage with Amir dogmatic. Aren’t all religions equally regressive and fit to be thrown into the dustbin of history? Surprisingly, despite the Marxist bent of both Amir and Lakshmi’s mind, Amir insists on her conversion to I...