What ticks storytellers

Just like I’ve mentioned in my upcoming book, the time we became a storyteller was probably when we narrated something that happened to us, to our mother. The moment we became fiction storytellers was when we lied for the first time in our lives. So, basically, we’re all storytellers.

Being a writer is something very closely related to storytelling. Except that story-telling is about speech and hearing, whereas writing uses a whole different kind of input—visual. When you want to tap into that part of the recipient’s brain, you use a different technique. Some of us also would like visual feedback for what we write.

Bringing back focus

As the revolution continues, I see that some of us have lost focus. And then there are some of our usual politicians doing and saying stupid things. And this has distracted some of us fighting for the cause. Also, obviously, there are a lot of misunderstandings about Jallikattu, about the “South Indians” (such a relief there’s no usage of the term, “Madrasi”). So here I am, contributing my two cents to clear some air around the issue.

The Bundle of Coins

Painted pots and pot bellies, veshti-clad men, bright colours, fresh sugarcane, and the chant of Pongal-o-Pongal are common to Pongal every year. However, there’s been a new addition to the tradition over the last decade or so: ban on Jallikkattu, terming it a torture and injustice to animals.

People who already know me, know that I’m against animal torture, which is also why I’m a vegetarian. And I’m the kind of vegetarian who doesn’t even wear wool or leather.

Drumrolls, 2017!

As 2016 slowly fades away, I sit here, looking at the memento it gave me as a parting gift—a fractured finger. The only issue I have with it is that the extension splint is making the finger a little longer, so my typing efficiency has gone down by 75%. That’s a bonus for you, because if I can’t type much, you don’t have to read much! I’m not a saint to say, ‘No regrets’, but I’m not a pessimist either. I look forward to the new year.

The Real Sufferers

After a disturbing number of incidents of vehicles set ablaze and tourists beaten up, one really wonders how we call ourselves a civilised society. As one of my friends rightly mentioned, ‘No wonder the British were able to “Divide and Rule” us! #Cauvery’ The sad part about it is, we are so short-sighted that we just do things because we feel like, whether or not it is going to have an effect on anything.

When we lose sight just for the limelight

Before you think of chewing off my head for talking about feminism while having a Y-chromosome, please (please) step back and think about the kind of bias you’re dwelling in.

So my Saturday started with my daily share of Facebook feed. That’s how it all usually begins, these days. It so happened that I chanced upon a post that spoke about how Sindhu and Sakshi won their place in history, ‘despite’ India. The post spoke about patriarchy, and chauvinism, and gender bias, and ill-treatment of women … Well, I couldn’t help but agree. And then there were ‘related articles’ (I don’t know how they all got curated), which I read; they felt kind of … I mean, those posts hit those places in my mind, that I’d never really visited—never really known existed. Some thoughts did have me bewildered, in a good way.

On vegetarianism

This is the edited post. Upon retrospect (and after a few cold stares), I felt that the original post may have come across as too strong, seeming a bit too aggressive, bordering on angry. That was not the purpose of the post. Passion, perhaps, has its side-effects, but anger is never the way to get across a point.

The so-called demonic torrents

Torrents have never been out of the limelight, nor will they be for the foreseeable future. As long as there’s data, there would be data sharing, and torrents will be spoken about until they’re replaced by a better technology. Thanks to popular misunderstanding, torrents are considered bad, and anyone who backs them is considered a pirate without a second thought. But is it justified to term every torrent user a pirate? What if the logic is flawed? Let’s look at what torrents really are in order to understand whether they should be demonised.

Did you like Kabali?

It’s funny how people just assume that I’m obnoxious. No, I’m not trying to deny facts here, just stating that I’m not that predictable. So a few days ago, thanks to a friend, I watched Kabali—probably the most-awaited Tamil movie of 2016. When I told people I’ve watched the movie, people (predictably) asked the question, ‘Well, did you like it?’ To save myself from the trouble of unnecessary argument, I just used to answer depending on the tone of their question, which, in most cases, was, ‘No’. It was partially true. I’m a person divided between two opinions, in most cases. My final word is usually the stronger feeling out of the two—my mind cannot process absolutes for the most part. One good thing about this is that no statement of mine is an absolute lie. Yes, you may chuckle, by all means.

‘Honourable members of the jury…’ (part three)

As I already mentioned in the last post, I’d like to end this series of posts on a positive note about my experience at Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram. The first thing I’d like to talk about is the two good sessions I was part of: