Nivedita Das Narayan

Read it...You'll know why it did not get selected amongst the best entries on Feb 14th and only got a box space- highly abridged, mostly sabotaged in essence, and reading ordinary:) Why I love Mumbai!! A Delhi-ite originally and I live in Mumbai for more than five years now. The 5+ yrs had commenced with an acute awareness (& arrogance) of the classic Delhi - Mumbai paradox – power v/s money, neta-land v/s bollywood, intellect v/s glitter, butter chicken v/s crabs ‘n shrimps. Inevitably, the transformation crept in, getting comfortable & yes, growing in love with a city where I’d chosen to live and work. A Mumbai that allowed one anonymity despite living in the busiest co-operative housing societies, the security of stepping out and hailing a cab after midnight without evoking raised eyebrows and attention of neighborhood goons, the pleasure of the alternative train ride if you were running late for a meeting, the inimitable Mumbaikar’s attention & affection for anythin...

We all love him, Gautam. And a lot of us say Gautam is a great guy, happy, maybe not too matured, not too organized. All of it is true, especially his un-preparedness till only 3 days before his marriage day but for the intervention of my dear Jiju & hubby. I thank you all for standing by him in his ‘event’ in life – marriage. Mind you, he is thankful too (almost grateful) and has gone away on his honeymoon thinking ‘yeh sab nahin hotey to kuch nahin hota … I am lucky to have such a family of cousins, jijus, sisters & friends, etc’. You bet he’s lucky. Having spent such a variety of emotions towards my brother, I thought I’ll spend a few moments thanking and feeling lucky too. Ø Thank you, Gautam Ø Thank you, for the selfless times, almost obsessively,(‘quality time’) that you spent through the week(s), every weekend with Ria & Kris being their doting, loving Mama. Ø Thank you for finding time to remember that our childhood winter holidays were incomplete without picnics an...

Am guilty of absenteism on this blog, and will return soon as this ill-health routine in Jan 2007 fades out. While i was away celebrating Gautam's wedding, a few others have been chugging on in this journey of life, exploring, finding others and maybe be themselves... hence substituting my laziness with a posting i received from Steshia... In her words: "The experience of my visit to Melghat has left me with awareness to a reality of a forgotten world that has existed and survived besides the only one I have known and taken for granted. When I was told that I could go for a project visit to a village called Chikaldhara, my reaction was Chikal…..what? We reached Bandhera station in the early hours of Tuesday morning. My colleague Madhu Neb and I were greeted by two young chirpy ladies in a TATA Sumo. They introduced themselves as Manisha, Community Development Coordinator and Margaret Daniels from PREM (People’s Rural Education Development.) PREM is one of the institutions that...