Nivedita Das Narayan

Now they say that about wordsmith(ing), weaving magic with words, or however else one expresses this ‘thrill’ that you feel chancing upon some deft, audacious threading of two words or an expression that shouldn’t have been there (or joined) in the first place. The thrill down the spine is not so much respect for the ‘puritan’ language but for the sheer devilry of the person who maneuvers the language, but does not mutilate it… Also there’s something magical that is exchanged in that moment between the ‘author of the maneuver’ to the (one-out-of-ten) listener, who understands, smiles & revels in the magic of it. Honestly, this is the thrill that keeps my reading alive, in figuring out the numerous impudent ways of expressing a single idea, or thought. Just like the Compulsive Confessor’s http://www.thecompulsiveconfessor.blogspot.com/ manic reaction to a friend’s matter-of-factness, I quote from the blog: Like, recently? We were chatting about men, more specifically the men in my ...

I visited the RTO yesterday for the momentous ‘cancellation of hypothecation’ of my car … In English, my car’s EMI cycle is complete and the bank has expressed its no objection for the car to become completely mine… blah blah!!. So I set off, pretty clearly with a bit of trepidation, just like all us private sector types when we are about to visit a Govt. run department that has the power to allow or disallow your candidacy for citizenship or some such critical ‘proof of existence’. A smattering of rows of buildings, mostly dilapidated, sprawling & unkempt vacant spaces being used for parking vehicles of all sizes. As usual Govt. owned premises being the most privileged and inundated with length(s) of acres. I was hit by the teeming nos., and immediately a wave of helplessness. First, the sea of men - I was the only woman in the visible vicinity (and perhaps the only human with a trace of a deodorant on me!!), amidst the sea of Agents teeming around to push papers for various ‘vehi...