What gives

Now that it looks like I will be leaving the hills of Palamu for other shores,I have been trying to sit down assimilate and figure out the things I will surely miss. On top of the list definately were the faces of two old ladies who come regularly to collect their medicines ,one a diabetic and the other a patient of heart disease .Both of them live two districts away and they make their journey through trains and busses every three months to collect their medicine stock.I have tried so many times to pursuade them to buy their medicines from a place near where they live ,they insist on travelling to the hospital every month-their arguement is that the medicines they get here are hard to get elsewhere.Hard to believe but they do bring joy to my heart whenever they show their faces. Gunjar Devi could be sixty or ninety.She barely has any teeth left.She has pierced two big holes in her ear lobes where she dangles a big silver ear-stud around three inches big.She addresses me as her ...

The last week ,for the avid follower of the nonsense that makes up the news in the TV channels, were the war of words between politicians,filmstars for issues and non-issues.'My name is khan' releases this weekend.Since the onset of the hulla-bulla sorrounding the movie,controversies have dogged it -to it's opening on friday. SRK who is the lead in the movie has gambled and gambled hard right from the out-set.While his contemporary Khan's have chosen more universal subjects(therefore safe) to make movies on ,SRK has brought to the forefront a theme that has dared to address the issues of his identity and has struck at the heart of the issue.You need guts to give a face to a voice-a voice that speaks the truth but has been more than often misunderstood in the recent past. Kudos to KJo,SRK and whoever are responsible for movies like these. Such efforts have to be lauded,especially in these times when the trend is to sweep uncomfortable truths under the carpet and act l...