Some random musings & updates
ISRO has successfully soft landed Chandrayaan 3 at the south pole of the moon. Man, are the Indians happy! Even the guy who has 3 posts on his Instagram added a story to his otherwise dead account. I’m not too psyched about this success (?) as the communal riots in our country have only intensified and that’s one failure I can’t get past. While the mission was being broadcasted, I guess Modi’s face was showcased on half the screen. I think he could earn big bucks if he starts a crash course titled “How to shamelessly steal the limelight from the nooks of your own people!”. A comment on the live broadcast read, “Why is he not able to smile? Has he got Botox done over his face?”. No judgement there but I mean how can one not chuckle to that? Someone told me the moment he started talking, viewer count dropped from 8 bn to 4 bn. I want to be friends with the dropped off pool of people. There are a few things that do amuse me about this frenzy though. An image of more than a handful of women from ISRO is floating around the internet saying if women are given a break from patriarchy, they can take us to the moon. I abide. The other best news feels a little personal. A friend from Pakistan posted a chat snippet about India’s successful landing that said, I feel proud about it and I’m not even an Indian. This sentence was enough to make me feel emotional but then the response from her Indian friend made me want to sprinkle the softest hug (start counting) at the border of our countries that could make the LOC disappear for a hot second. They said, Radcliffe is only 76 years old, the shared culture spans across millennia. In my head it strongly translated to - heck yeah we should be sharing all our victories and failures together.
This month was tightly packed with waking up in the morning at 5:15 and closing the day by 10:00 at night. What followed in between the am and the pm was a lot of irritability, regret, adrenaline, awe, more irritability, compassion, coming across layers of masks that I’ve put up over the course of 32 years, accepting that it’ll take time to undo it, wanting to undo it immediately despite the acceptance, compassion towards self, understanding of my privilege by understanding the privilege of more people around me with better access to things than me (comparisons are shitty but sometimes good), lots of village walks to the market 900 mts away from the campus only to hog an ice-cream or two & to gaze at the expanse of green and spot a new favorite patch everyday, breaking the barrier of not restricting myself in asking for hugs and giving them away too. And well, 4 hours of workout everyday with a lot of good food for the tummy.
A few moons back I was catching up with my friend in Kolkata after more than a month. She was in Dubai with her family and her new born niece. I was in Goa doing a residential yoga program (I’m a certified yoga trainer now btw, congratulate me! more on this later.) After spending a brisk 20 minutes of sharing latest life updates from an hour long call, our conversation digressed to talking about the one form of affection which we haven’t been too privy too. Hugs. We discussed how simple it is to fill our cups with hope for good things in life just by receiving a long warm honest hug. And how it’s one thing we shouldn’t be deprived of at all. It costs no money. I’d like to think that there are many more such friends listing down the importance of hugs and turning into hug activists so they can carry a placard around their necks for free hugs. How worthy a radical movement to produce and give away something for free in public & load all the parties involved, with bounty of dopamine.
Has anyone noticed how cats would not let you touch their stomach unless they trust you completely? I feel that’s how it is for humans too. When we allow someone to hug us, we open our hearts in the most vulnerable way & let it be caressed so it can meow the softest meow.
That’s it from me for this month. I had fun writing this quick 4 pointer essay of sorts. lol. I feel if I ramble more without thinking of it making absolute sense, I might be able to write to you more often.
Some recommendations
I enjoyed reading an essay after a long long time! Please please please find some time to read it. Of letting classrooms become playgrounds for one and all. A beautifully penned essay on indigestions that comes from all around the world towards Dalits. Here’s an anecdote from the essay:
When Savitribai Phule walked to work, many cow-dung slingers stopped her, mocked her, and tried to prevent her from working by throwing cow dung at her. A student once told me about her aunt, the only Dalit woman to become the principal of her school who, when she tried to enter her office on the first day of her job, found that the locks had been changed by the secretary who refused to work for a Dalit Woman. The sight of Dalit women taking space at work, art, sports, films leaves many with a severe indigestion problem.
I came across a fantastic Instagram profile who does amazing research and breaks down the realities of people we don’t get to see no matter how much we want to look. Start from this post:
Some mind-blowing didgeridoo for you to vibe on, just wait for it to take you to a fun-town (thanks for this find, sankiii):
Try to be one of those on whom nothing is lost. - Henry James
big hugs, of course
riti :)
I have started loving your work so much objectively now. Now that it was any less interesting earlier, but I see the growth every time - now you have links and interesting references and instagram pages. Wonderful! 💙