A humming word

Imagine these teachers in a staff room of a school in Hyderabad.  1. Aamir Khan, an Arts Teachers, who is scouting for lovers of Art 2. Rani Mukherjee, who teaches Math and Science but has a Tourette's Syndrome and  3. RajKumar Rao, a PTI teacher, basking in the glory of his success in his school at Haryana Aamir will focus on the lack of focus on Arts in the School. Having identified Darsheel, he now wants to create an impact in this school. Rani Mukherjee wants to focus on the inability of students who can pay and is out there pooling in people. Already her students have created a Fan page for her and now, they want her to go out there and involve as many students as possible.  While Rani and Aamir are working on their ideas, RajKumar Rao is struggling to live up to his reputation that he has created in his school in Haryana. The students here are tough nuts. Their parents want them to study hard too. But more importantly, there are no guava fields or Cow Dung cakes to ...

Often the deepest friendships are formed when you are a child. But busting myths is the right of every individual. And, we have done it too.  Met at a workshop, Divya Murarka, is a friend and a sister, now. Over the past two years I have learnt to understand her and myself, through her.  She befriended me at a very different stage in my life. In 2019, I returned to India from the US to take up a job and pursue life again and that's when I met Divya at British Library. A starry-eyed woman with a manuscript written for parents and a hope that the MS document would turn into a book with a beautiful cover and a spine. It was February 2019. While I promised to edit it, I was still unsure.  Her confidence stirred into me and I began editing on my way to work, every day. I found beauty, honesty, truth and more importantly, a purpose in her writing. While the book, like Hyderabadi Haleem, was taking its own sweet time, Divya and I met for Sphagetti, Coffee, chai and spoke about a...

 So, if you have watched How I Met Your Mother, you would know this episode about Barney and Ted: Robin 101.  Ted has dated Robin for so long that he "literally" studied her. And when she leaves, he has a lot of information about her so he creates a presentation for Barney and calls the class as Robin 101.  I wrote a poem for someone who isn't part of my life, anymore but I still care for her.  This is for her: She was that messy chick,  everyone warns you about;  Laughing aloud, randomly  Would whoot or shout  She was a jalebi,  circling around her being  Baffling the rest of us,  by her style of living  Calling my landline,  she'd whisper oddities as normal  She'd ring and blabber;  believed in nothing formal  She was a TV series in herself,  glued by a few What she'd do next,  no one, absolutely, knew

"Follow your dream" is the most popular theme of this past one and a half decade. If you look back at our lives, many people plunged into things they love and began enjoying it. And Ranbeer Kapoor fed us the dream systematically throughout his career too. In fact, "Follow your dream" can sum up most of his movies. And whenever one watches such movies, they are in a reverie for days and then google some quotes, paste it on different forms of social media, wonders about the feasibility of it and resumes their job they "have" to do. Which is fine. If that suits you and you don't bicker about it saying "One has to be rich, to do what they love." or "One has to be really lucky in life." etc...etc.. No. You don't. You can bust your ass, parallelly or you can reduce some non-value adding activities and pursue your dreams. Or you can take the plunge. Like Vinay P who believes: Follow your dreams. You will never get lost. He exemplifies ...

The abstract noun "genius" is commonly misused. "You're a genius" is a common derisive remark. Leonardo Da Vinci was a genius. Ramanujan was a mathematical genius. The lists of Genuises cannot be complete without the mention of painters like Van Gogh. Edward Hopper. And poets like Li Young Lee. Roger Robinson. And then, there are sparks of genius. A genius is the purest form and the most intense application of the mind and heart. For me, sparks of genius, were in movies like The Devil Wears Prada, where Meryl Streep says "that's all" with a soft yet stern tone that shakes institutions. Or Kangana Ranaut in Fashion. Her poise and her attitude was a spark of genius. And, then, there are books like Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. The plot is simple: to solve the murder of a neighbour's Dog, Christopher resolves to find the crime-doer. Christopher has Asperger's Syndrome. It is mentioned nowhere but only in the blurb of the book....

"I am dying since ten years" - Debbie says when Joseph Mascarenhas (Joe) justifies his disappearance over several evenings and tearfully tells her how their friend Rob is diagnosed with Stage 4 Brain Tumor. He comfortably tries to escape the whole confrontation with Debbie until she coerces him to play for a sailing band and earn enough for her and their son. Live your dream is a powerful yet a dangerous notion. How far can one go for their dream? In the mortar and pestle of life, it is often the dreamer's family that gets pounded. Joe, claiming to be emotional and broken, spends ten years of his life, teaching guitar and performing in nondescript clubs. While Debbie's life takes a U-turn and she ends up being the stronger of the two and managers their family fish business. The stench of the fish doesn't leave her. While his friends have moved ahead, Joe, decides to stay stagnant. Debbie despite being the pushy householder lets him be, thinking he will make her p...

MR Book Center or as the owner Uncle calls it “Mister Book Center” sits comfortably, tucked under the Begumpet Flyover. The innocent Green and Yellow banner with Bold Letters hide the mammoth collection of the store. Enter it and you’d be welcomed by Calendars, translation of popular books in Telugu and racks and racks of books. It is a wonderland for book lovers.  A thirty-five-year family-run business, MR is the initial of their father’s and brother’s names. The staff is friendly and the owner uncle, another MR, is warm and easy to speak with. He showed us a copy of Quran that had a small note by the Nizam. He also told us anecdotes of book lovers who never married for the fear of not having to keep their books. The eminent Corona and the waning book visitors managed to creep in our conversations. And he immediately mentioned that he partnered with Amazon and Flipkart with a glint in his eyes.   A rare Quran      MR Uncle One would remember that they sol...