by Manju Gupta
And now I have heard everything….. or so my aging ears think. My son’s friend just got married virtually. Corona might have changed the entire world but couldn’t change their resolve to unite on the ‘auspicious date ‘. Unfortunately, due to travel restrictions, invitees were stuck in their homes. Fortunately, the bride and groom were together in theirs ! The pandit conducted the pheras and the parents gave their blessings…
They came looking for me. It was the end of January. The virus had yet to unleash its fury fully. I had flown Air China with a brief stop at Beijing on my way back from San Francisco. The visiting officials were tracing anyone who had passed China in the past month and had all my flight details including my seat number. Quite unexpectedly the great Indian Republic was working…
I was facing a crisis in the run up to world food day. Green Thai curry or gobhi manchurian, singhara khurchan or savoury moong daal, maal pua or kesari kheer, golgappe or dahi paapri ….and if the former, which masala pani filling… sweet or sour ? It was a problem of plenty and I risked finding the weight I had diligently lost. I was attending the wedding of a friend’s…
I was stuck. Nothing unusual. It was two days after Diwali, a time when all Indian men are on the streets trying to reach out to their sisters. In any case getting stuck is not uncommon in our country where we share our roads with wayward tractor trolleys, unhinged bullock carts, and holy cows. This time though it was different. The toll was taking its toll or more accurately not…
It’s that time of the year again. The season to clean out closets, almirahs, box beds or wherever else you had stored them, wrap them and get them ready. It’s Diwali after all, everyone gets a new outfit, including past presents! Culturally, Diwali has been seen as an opportunity to express gratitude to people who matter, a sentiment which was conveyed by exchanging gifts. Over the years gifting has gone…
It was my first time. I was a little uncertain, somewhat ambivalent. With a driver no longer on my payrolls I was dutifully taking my car to one of the yellow boxes that have cropped up adjoining petrol pumps. To say I went out of plain diligence would be a half truth. The bigger half is that I was wary of the consequences of a polluting vehicle. Under the recently…
The reform stemmed from a minor altercation, the type that is ‘ ghar ghar ki kahani. I had rebuked my nephew and he had talked back. He was driving and I was in the critic’s seat. He went around a roundabout, the wrong way and I admonished him. When I persisted, dismissing the usual excuses ‘it is a deserted road’ and ‘ no one’s watching’ he raised a soul searching…
I was driving down the highway in my spanking new car, minding my own business when I heard a sharp popping sound. Moments later I noticed a small crack in the middle of my windshield. The car is actually six months old but could pass off as new because it was absolutely blemish free. My son in law had lovingly got all the dents, bumps and scratches mended…
It isn’t the act itself, which is no doubt abominable, it is the ease with which it was done that is worrisome. Three masked men on a motorcycle, blocked an SUV as it slowed down at a speed breaker and shot the occupant at point blank range. A total of six bullets were fired from an illicit weapon, two of which hit the victim, injuring him fatally. We witness such…
I was a little sceptical when I laid eyes on it. She is good at the craft and I totally trust her creative prowess. Among others, she had designed one using iron nuts, instead of beads for my brother, an Ironman aspirant. She had also customised one for my Googler son, replicating the exact colours of the company’s logo. But this pink rose with two dainty leaves, although exquisite, seemed…