On normal days I don't watch news at all. I think it must be more than 3 or 4 years now. To be informed with current affairs I read news online for few minutes and be on twitter. Screeching anchors, breaking news readers, prime time debaters have made me to turn down the television forever.
Currently I'm at in-laws' place. Here I am reintroduced to news again and nothing changed much. I'm shocked beyond my wit about how they communalize an issue at the time of a pandemic. No surprise here. India is a country that runs most on religious sentiments. At least the current situation made me to believe so.
Let's go back to my growing up years. Nothing to brag about, but neither my parents nor my grandmother were bigots.
On Christmas eve we used to walk over to friends' house to check the Christmas crib and tree. The first ever piece of cake I had was at their home. Still I vaguely remember the Carols sung by them during the moral period. Yes, those days were simple. Visiting church was an extravagant affair back then. And mind you I was not even studying in Christian convent. Bible, Jesus, Mary, Joseph stories were narrated by them in great detail. We used to giggle and whisper whether bride and groom would kiss on their wedding day. Diana, Dorita Winnie, Pinto, Fernadez, D'Souza, Chaco were very common in the class and neighbors.
Same goes for Afrin, Naseeba, Musrat, Rajiya, Nishreen, Nawaaz, Asif, Sadiq, Nehreen, and many others. At the time of Hindi Antakshari competition everybody wanted them on their team because their knowledge of songs from 50s to retro to 90s was impeccable. Since I'm a vegetarian I was always kept away from kebabs and biriyani. Only dish I was given was Sheer Khurma on Eid. I was part of their beach picnic most weekends as I was not allowed to go near water body without adult supervision because of a freak accident many moons ago.
In the same way all of them were part of our festivals be it Ganesha Chaturti or Deepavali. We all participated in large number of cultural activities as one. We were not taught to differentiate one another based on the religion, at home, at school, or in society. Partaking in town fairs with friends was the fanciful event each year.
I'm the person who has changed many schools, had different sets of friends belonging to different communities, stayed in different towns and neighborhoods, yet my experience remained same. And suddenly from the past few years all I see is hateful messages towards particular community in all forums. Even in social gatherings people spew venom as if it is the most natural thing to do. Hubby cuts down such malicious arguments then and there with logic, for that I'm proud of him.
I've completely stopped interacting with fanatic friends and acquaintances. I've disowned bigot cousins and family members. I've tried my best to educate them on religious harmony in vain. It must be easy for them to hate somebody based on religion, caste, class, creed, or gender, but that is not me. The alarming issue is they all have children and I dread to think whom they are going to raise with so much hatred in their heart. If this hostility is passed on to next generation there is no hope for this country and we are all doomed.
History has never been kind to people who often tend to forget it.
There is something magical about reading books. Most people think it is about knowing stories. I don't deny that. Along with the story the reader will be transported to another world, the world where he will get involved with the characters. Here, the imagination is his own. Though he is a mute spectator, the emotions he feel for the people in the book are raw and real. It is my genuine believe that people who read books are generally more mature and liberal. That is mainly because their exposure is aplenty. They would have lived different lives in different time periods. They are familiar with goodness and badness. They can differentiate from right to wrong. They can take stand in a conflict. They can be compassionate and kind. I know there are several exceptions to this generalization of mine. At least I can say reading books made me a better person and it continues to do so.
This World Book Day I want to name few of my favourite books that tops my memory right now. It is an extremely difficult task to begin with. The mere mention of a book name brings back memories associated with it. I may not remember the plot well enough, but mere mention of a book name brings back memories associated with it. The below-mentioned list will not be the same next year. So, here is the list without any particular order.
1. Jugari Cross-Poornachandra Tejaswi
2. Rage of Angels-Sidney Sheldon
3. Parva-S. L. Bhyrappa
4. Kane and Abel-Jeffrey Archer
5. Harry Potter Series-J. K. Rowling
6. To Kill A Mockingbird-Harper Lee
7. The Kite Runner-Khaled Hosseini
8. Wonder-R. J. Palacio
9. The Good Daughter-Karin Slaughter
10. Tulasidala-Yandamuri Veerendranath
Happy World Book Day from one bookish to another.
This is the month the Novel coronavirus loomed over us largely. We were hearing about Wuhan, Corona, Diamond princess fiasco since December. We were updated about the first positive case in Kerala and the subsequent recovery. We were quick enough to cancel all upcoming travel plans local as well as overseas. We were equipped for the anticipated curfew.
Despite all these we were not serious. If we were, we would not be attending the massive nine-hour over-nightly play "Malegalalli Madumagalu". I'm alive and healthy to write this overnight experiment in drama form is one of its kind in the country. The play is based on Kuvempu's book of same name, set in Malnad, the central mountainous region of Karnataka of the late 19th century. The experience was powerful and magical. Imagine running around the Jnanabharathi campus every 2.30 hours in the night until early morning for seats as the show was performed at four different stages in an open-air setting. There were almost 1500 people for the show as they declared it to be the last run. Cousin M1 accompanied us and here we created a beautiful memory, the story we will tell to anyone who cares enough to listen. It's a powerful nostalgic moment for hubby as he belongs to the Malnad belt of the state. The art lovers in us were happy and content. Social distancing was not the norm at that point in time. If it was we would not have ventured out.
By next weekend curfew was ordered in 7 districts of the state that included Bangalore urban. Then started the isolation followed by the nationwide lock down for 21 days.
I managed to read four books this month. The list is "The Last Time I Lied-Riley Sager; The Lying Game-Ruth Ware; The woman in cabin 10-Ruth Ware; The Devotion of Suspect X-Keigo Higashino. I first read Ruth Ware's "In a Dark, Dark Wood " last year and liked her story-telling style, which falls in my favoured genre. Her another book "The Turn of the Key" was nominated in the best mystery and thriller category of Goodreads 2019. So, I picked that in January and went on reading all other published works of her. This fixation was on Riley Sager the last two months.
The movie list goes like this; Driving Licence, Houseful 4, Dabangg 3, One Who Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest, Mardani 2, Maari 2, Bombshell, Maheshinte Prathikaram, and Kurukshetra.
The television show continued with 'The Last Kingdom' season second and third. Uhtred of Bebbanburg was the driving force in sustaining this harsh lock down. And Netflix announced April 26 as the official release date of season 4. However, I'm afraid nothing will be as per the plan during this pandemic.
I hear family members and friends alike not getting paid during the lock down. It is totally unfair and unkind. These are real people with lot of responsibilities and commitments. Their stress and anxiety is endless. I tried to console them by saying sailing through this global catastrophe unhurt is the most important thing right now. My cheering may sound hollow, still I messaged and called near and dear ones to check on them even though some of them had been irritating and annoying in the past. At least it is far better than banging vessels or burning candles.
Hoping for a corona-free world soon
