Words have been my habitat, ideas my oxygen, writing the meeting ground.
I write about love and longing, history and heartbreak, sex and satiation, music and memory, gender and jealousy and yes- even gobhis and governments.
Someday I shall write another kind of blog. Not about terrorism and guns and carnage and worse.
I will write about other things.
I will write about winter in Delhi (where I am visiting soon) and how the women bring out their choicest shawls and the men dress like they were in a Jane Austen novel.
I will write about how much I miss Mumbai’s three departed chroniclers-Busybee, Frank Simoes and Dom Moraes. (I wonder what words they would have chosen to describe what we’ve been through.)
This is something that’s been bothering me ever since I heard Mohd. Ajmal Qasab’s confession last night on the TV channels, and then read it in Mid-day this afternoon.
The police had captured him on the night of 26 November after he’d killed people at CST and then on the roads of South Mumbai.
For 60 hours as the hostage crisis at Taj, Oberoi and Nariman House unfolded-they had one of the terrorists in their captivity!!!
Went to the Gateway outpouring of anguish and anger yesterday. The Taj stood in darkness like a shadow on our hearts. I lit a candle and left it on the pavement outside.
Mercifully, the gathering was bereft of Page 3 element- just ordinary folks-lakhs of them-most of them young- not interested in promoting themselves –as much as their views.
OK so I'm back. Was away in New York for a 3 day work trip. Got in at 3 pm NY time at JFK ( think it was around 11pm India-you do the math) and the phone didn't stop ringing. Slowly got a hold of what was happening. Did a body count for all who I knew. Family and close friends were home and safe.Checked in to hotel (right next to Ground Zero-some kind of cosmic joke) and stayed glued to CNN international all night.
What was NY like? Cold and very strange. There was a Thanksgiving parade on Thursday. I who had a city on fire chose to sit at Ground Zero. I didn't know what to be thankful for.
Etiquette for Modern Times (Everyday situations that get our knickers in a twist…)
How do you introduce a married gay couple at an official sit-down dinner to the other guests who’re straight?
Do you share your email password with the man whose bed you’re currently sharing?
How do you respond to someone who insists on forwarding you jokes you really don’t find funny on the email?
