Psychedelic Slippers

Most of us are unanimous in our concerns regarding the threats posed by plastics to the environment in terms of air, water or soil pollution. But the ease and comfort in the usage of plastic products, often overrides this concern when it comes to daily stuff. It is often just one plastic bag, just this one disposable cup, but cumulatively they don't stay just outliers in our daily patterns. Yes habits are hard to change, and it takes a lot of self-discipline to really incorporate these changes. While many of us have switched to a cloth bag for groceries, or using more durable plastics, we, women need to take a moment to consider the recurring plastic waste caused by the usage of "Sanitary napkins". Several studies [1] suggest that sanitary napkins take a really long time to completely degrade (around 25 years). While they are often looked at as a more hygienic option than cloth pads which have been traditionally used in India, the issue of safe and hygienic disposal of...

Tonight, was a beautiful night, so i must write. I must scribble, about the stars, the bewitching ones, large and bright that hold us put, with their feeble might. And also the ones, wispy and faint, smudged in (light) noise, they hidden, await. Like so many things, about you that'd lose their bling, with time, averaged, thence in a poem, must they be caged. I must indite, the little gestures, the blink of your eyes, the grip of your hand the pat on the head, the heart in the sand. I must save, the stars of the moonless nights 'cause they fill the spaces, between stars, brightest 'cause they light up the sky, when the night's darkest.

There are some movies that make you shudder at the act (e.g. Happy New Year) and then there are other movies that make you shudder with the act (e.g. Udta Punjab). Pink belongs to the latter. There are scenes in the movie when the ladies make you tremble, and you can feel yourself walking in their shoes then. It brings to the forefront an important view on molestation,stalking that often goes unreported, for even in the minds of the victims it is not a "big offense" but something they believe they can get over. As long as there's no blood or bruise, it is passable. As women, (feigning strength and independence) we would advise our friends to file an FIR, but when it comes to ourselves, we often just let it go. Everybody wants justice, but no-one wants to take the laborious path to it. There's this scene, where Andrea flees with her friend when she sees the guys. At one point you think why flee from a public place? But you place yourself there, and you know you ...

Do you cry? over glaring tree stumps, of branches past; over fallen leaves, torn flowers imprinted, in a muddy cast. Do you shudder? at broken homes, wooden caskets; that lay beneath the rubble, crushed, li'l baby baskets. Do you wince? when axes slit, through carcasses; or when you see life lying, on streets, lifeless. Do you pray? for those who willed, but were bent, by might; or for lives lost on a stormy summer night.

The good thing about IIT Kanpur is the active student involvement in the administrative processes (at least those related to students). This, I have never had a doubt about. I believed that the average intellectual of the IITians would rise beyond shallow greed to enable this system to be progressive. But over the last one year or so, I feel saddened to have been proved wrong. Around a year ago, a proposal was received to hike the electricity charges to be borne by the students in lieu of increased electricity rates. A subsequent proposal was made to recover electricity charges from each hostel individually. The proposal aimed at generating greater accountability amongst the residents(students) regarding electricity usage. This system was finally implemented in the start of the present semester. Through all the back and forth discussions, the students remained silent about the new proposal, its shortcomings etc. until they received their first bill at the end of January. Then b...

Its February and it's not a surprise that suddenly everyone is preaching about love. Why love, or its expression should be bound by a month or even a date, is another issue altogether, we will leave that for some other time. Today lets talk about unconditional love. Often Facebook posts, quotes, shares and stories revolve around this idea of unconditional love. Which is further propagated by a millennia of literature propounding stereotypes of the said kind. Open any chic-flick, or anything in the romance genre and there you have them all over. In contemporary conversations and literature alike, the youth of today is often derided for having ephemeral emotions. We are supposedly , "the hook up - break up generation" . Can we pause and ponder over the constant bombarding of this statement? On one hand we talk of empowerment, of leaving stereotypes behind, and on the other hand here we are trying to make a generation conform to conventional ideas of love, its expre...

This is "chotu". And I was his human, till today. We handed him over to a lady willing to adopt him. So this post is written in the midst of a void left, when you say farewell to a loved one. We picked him up to be a part of our lives a couple of months back, and he is been there ever since. From being so tiny, we were scared to even pick him up, to this big tom-kitten that he is now, it feels like forever. It has been so long, that I now forget how it was like before him. Raising him was a black-hole. I have no track of time i invested in him. When we first got him, me and a couple of friends had to take turns baby sitting him (and his litter-mates, which are no more). The first night I had them with me, I remember I had barely slept, and had to feed them and clear after them every 3 hours. After those long hours, and numerous other eventful so many things, chotu had today integrated to be so much of my life. My day would start with a wet lick on my face or a playf...