Buffio

These days I am driven by meaning. Meaning has become my personal drug. Even washing my plate needs to be meaningful. It is great, except the absence of the meaningful means,well, it is meaningless. Thus, a casual chat, a fling, a polite hello all seem like it doesn't serve a purpose. Anchor, Concrete, Long-term. These elaborate words capture my attention. I willingly somersault into the web of security. Their sheer size makes me think it cannot be meaningless. Their sheer size makes sure that, by the time I figure out that it is truly meaningless, it will be too late.

Caution: This is a girly/ girl-centric post. I open my cupboard. Do I see designer tops? No. Do I see tight jeans? No. I see Cotton Salwars. Millions and millions of cotton salwars, photocopied. Stashed in my cupboard like the nuts a squirrel stores in winter. People had warned me about this stage. This general apathy toward appearance. This lowest of lows in lethargy. This picking of comfort over style. But I paid no heed. And then, when he looked me in the eye and said those three words, my heart just broke. "Aunty, please move," the ten year old boy said. Aunty. That word has been terrorising Indian women since the dawn of time. It is supposed to be a term used for Father's sister/ Mother's sister. In actual usage, it refers to any woman who looks old. And by old I mean any woman who doesn't look young enough to be called sister, akka,chechi, didi. Aunty becomes associated authority/nuisance.In this society, wearing clothes that are not considered...

Writers are usually depicted as one big clique. They are generalised (Oh, these writer types!) and stereotyped ( She is brooding in a corner , is anti-social and has no sense of personal hygiene., Must be a writer.) But you see, writers are like STD"s. There is such variety like Syphilis,  Gonorrhea,  Herpes but they all come under one umbrella term. Through careless observation and extensive article reading due to utter boredom, I have carved out the different types of writers one encounters. 1.  The Sarcastic Type Ever remember reading an article that gave you a good chuckle? The ones you read and feel very smart about because you understood the writer's intended joke (when so many others missed it).These writers have an extraordinary flair for language and use it to their advantage. Even if they have got nothing to say, they can say it. 2.The Irony-loving Writer These can't resist ending stories in a way that no one expects. Readers start expecting them to ...

I feel bad for Indian parents. They are portrayed as backward,  narrow-minded or oppressive.  The usual refrain of " my son will  become an engineer" or "my son will become a doctor" is all that one  expects from them. It is as if they have no better pass-time than to  hound their children into a job of their choice.  From Google If Martin Luther King Jr was Indian, his speech would be titled 'I have a dream,for my son'.  Most youngsters 'give in' to their parents whims and dejectedly spend  well-earned money (their parents,not theirs) on fulfilling the  maa-baap ka dream. Others renegade, rebel and dissent. They  triumphantly disobey their parents wishes.  They spend well-earned  money (again,parents) on taking up commerce or (heaven forbid) arts.  They do things their way. More often than not, 'their way' includes  multiple existential crisis and being clueless about what to do after  the cou...