Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan's Blog, page 135
November 29, 2015
Today in Photo
What I did today: talked about sex in writing, gazed at Katherine Boo, was introduced to Kiran Nagarkar, saw my first book and my last book rub shoulders, thought about the role of writers to amplify voices, ate some food, drank some coffee, lost the battle to my hangover. #tlfdelhi #sunday
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November 28, 2015
Today in Photo
Green tea, grey motorcycle jacket and a red fascinator to help for my white lehenga being super skimpy and keep me away from the flu threatening to fell me. It's a bit... Untraditional, but at least I'll be snug. Under it all are tights and knee high flat boots. The fascinator isn't warming but adds a pop of colour to my DYING face. #nebri #wedding #notabridesmaid
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November 27, 2015
No, YOU fucking leave the country
p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 120%; }This week Aamir Khan said a thing and the whole country went mad. Coming just shortly on the heels of the terrorist attacks in Paris—a time when you think citizens stick together and huddle up in cozy corners to fight against the madness that is the rest of the world—the whole Aamir thing was nothing short of several dogs at a single fight, all trying to pick at the one single bone.
I couldn't see what the brouhaha was myself. As I saw the story unfold it seemed like all the actor was accused of doing was making a statement about his wife and how she mused that maybe they should move abroad following day after day of terrible headlines. Can you blame her? Just off the top of my head: a Dalit family burned to death for not following Hindu caste politics, a Muslim man beaten to death under suspicion of having beef in his fridge, the crazy fringe right wingers becoming more and more centre each day as their absurd statements in the press got picked up and waved about. Like, “see this is what's going to happen to our country and you can't do anything about it.” I mean, we're tempted on a daily basis to leave, and we would flee if we had the money and resources, which Khan is not lacking.
But wait. And abandon our country to the crazies? I think not. That's just what they want—but remember, they can't make the rules for us. They threaten us with violence? We do what we did when the Brits were here and refuse to cooperate. Stop giving them a voice in the press. Block them immediately on Twitter when they start buzzing by your ears. Without a voice, what can they do but implode from muteness?
Instead of them sending us away, let's send them away. Far. Somewhere where they can establish this perfect idea of Hinduism they seem to be clinging on to. (Even in the Mahabharata, there was pre-marital sex, so I don't know what era these guys are longing for.) Better yet, they can all live in communities with other super orthodox religious types—Muslim, Christian, Jewish—and with all their perfect godly ways, I'm sure they'll have the country they're dreaming of right now. I don't see why the majority of (normal) people have to live by the rules of the (abnormal) minority.
Threatening to beat someone up for their views is the opinion of three-year-olds. If these mouth-frothers are going to act like babies, we should treat them like they are. Give them the occasional lollipop. Pat them on the head. Punish them by withdrawing our love and smacking them on the wrist. Put up big notices that say: SHARING IS CARING or NO HITTING.
Jokes apart though. Here's where the picture is messed up. We keep saying how they're getting stronger, but we are partly to blame for this. We are giving them a voice! We're making them stronger by looking the other way when they misbehave. The system needs to crack down on people like this: we need to punish them, and when that doesn't work, punish them harder. They need to know that we live in 21st century India and not whatever-century-it-was Kings Landing. We do not stone people, or punish adulteresses with rape, we do not cut off hands of theives, we have a long history of democracy and a law and order system that—when it creaks into place—can astound you with the way it works, and people doing amazing things every day, and all sorts living shoulder to jowl and villages from back in the day and cities that have seen dynasties rise and fall and languages that bind you together and food that you always miss if you're away from it too long.
Why should we leave because we want to speak our minds? They have a problem? Get out, get out, stop polluting our amazing shared history of tolerance and peace with your terrible, regressive words.
(A version of this appeared as my column on mydigitalfc)
I couldn't see what the brouhaha was myself. As I saw the story unfold it seemed like all the actor was accused of doing was making a statement about his wife and how she mused that maybe they should move abroad following day after day of terrible headlines. Can you blame her? Just off the top of my head: a Dalit family burned to death for not following Hindu caste politics, a Muslim man beaten to death under suspicion of having beef in his fridge, the crazy fringe right wingers becoming more and more centre each day as their absurd statements in the press got picked up and waved about. Like, “see this is what's going to happen to our country and you can't do anything about it.” I mean, we're tempted on a daily basis to leave, and we would flee if we had the money and resources, which Khan is not lacking.
But wait. And abandon our country to the crazies? I think not. That's just what they want—but remember, they can't make the rules for us. They threaten us with violence? We do what we did when the Brits were here and refuse to cooperate. Stop giving them a voice in the press. Block them immediately on Twitter when they start buzzing by your ears. Without a voice, what can they do but implode from muteness?
Instead of them sending us away, let's send them away. Far. Somewhere where they can establish this perfect idea of Hinduism they seem to be clinging on to. (Even in the Mahabharata, there was pre-marital sex, so I don't know what era these guys are longing for.) Better yet, they can all live in communities with other super orthodox religious types—Muslim, Christian, Jewish—and with all their perfect godly ways, I'm sure they'll have the country they're dreaming of right now. I don't see why the majority of (normal) people have to live by the rules of the (abnormal) minority.
Threatening to beat someone up for their views is the opinion of three-year-olds. If these mouth-frothers are going to act like babies, we should treat them like they are. Give them the occasional lollipop. Pat them on the head. Punish them by withdrawing our love and smacking them on the wrist. Put up big notices that say: SHARING IS CARING or NO HITTING.
Jokes apart though. Here's where the picture is messed up. We keep saying how they're getting stronger, but we are partly to blame for this. We are giving them a voice! We're making them stronger by looking the other way when they misbehave. The system needs to crack down on people like this: we need to punish them, and when that doesn't work, punish them harder. They need to know that we live in 21st century India and not whatever-century-it-was Kings Landing. We do not stone people, or punish adulteresses with rape, we do not cut off hands of theives, we have a long history of democracy and a law and order system that—when it creaks into place—can astound you with the way it works, and people doing amazing things every day, and all sorts living shoulder to jowl and villages from back in the day and cities that have seen dynasties rise and fall and languages that bind you together and food that you always miss if you're away from it too long.
Why should we leave because we want to speak our minds? They have a problem? Get out, get out, stop polluting our amazing shared history of tolerance and peace with your terrible, regressive words.
(A version of this appeared as my column on mydigitalfc)
November 24, 2015
Today in Photo
Huzzah! And I'm off to launch my book! If you're in HKV from 6 to 8 today come say hi and get a signed copy at the Toddy Shop. Whee! #beforeandthenafter #bookfour #bookstagram
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November 23, 2015
Today in Photo
Unpacking. This box came out of a side pocket. What if the food's too bland? I may not need chilli but I do need some kind of flavouring, a little zing to bring our the magic of the food. As it turned out I was too shy to bring my dabba out in public so I wondered through Greece ordering anything that said "spicy" and feeling sad when it turned out to be the opposite of what I expected. In berlin though, I cooked a little and added chilli and that was the spag bol I was thinking of all along.
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November 20, 2015
Shadow boxing in the dark: life after midnight in Germany and in India
What is it that makes a city safe? I was pondering this question, as my companions and I took a shortcut through a dark — frankly, quite creepy — park. “Don’t worry,” said the Good Thing, “Nothing will happen.” And even though my every instinct resisted it, I followed him, only to pass several people (women included) that were walking home alone. The punchline? I’m not at home in New Delhi, India. I’m in Berlin.
Now Delhi has some amazing parks — Lodhi Gardens is the most famous one, but there are small patches of green hidden away like treasures in most neighbourhoods — but all these parks are locked up after 7 pm; insofar as anyone can lock up a park I suppose. That’s because after nighttime there are all sorts of “unsavoury elements” who come into parks and use them for their own needs. What these needs are, I’m not sure, but the park opposite my house was frequented by young men “probably smoking crack” said a neighbour darkly, until it was fitted by bright floodlights, so powerful that we probably don’t need to turn on our own lights inside. So obviously, locking the parks doesn’t work, because the unsavouries are just going to move somewhere else entirely. But I find it hard to imagine that Berlin has no unsavoury elements of its own. Of course, it does. But why then is this city safer?
Partly I guess because a lot of stuff that would be illegal in India is legal here: drinking in public spaces with a convenient liquor store at every corner. Bars that are open till all hours, meaning people have somewhere to go, instead of just converging in the street. A while ago, in both Delhi and Mumbai, there were plans afoot to make some bars 24 hours open. If not all day and all night, then at least to increase the last call time from 12.30 or whatever insanely early hour it is right now to two or three in the morning. It is at 12.30 when your average drunk is just getting into their stride and so have to leave a bar and get into their car and drive drunk somewhere else, leading to fatalities. (The road accident death toll in India is truly shocking considering how many people don’t have cars.) Of course, this drunk person could be responsible and take a cab — as my friends and I frequently do — but the inefficiencies of app taxis are a column for another day.
That’s another thing Berlin has that Delhi (and a lot of Indian cities) don’t. A dependable, easy-to-access public transport system, which means no one has to drive. It’s easier to feel safer when you’re in a brightly lit train station, tens of other revellers next to you. It’s easier to feel safer when you stumble home, stopping only to pick up a snack from a street food vendor, open, perfectly legal and thronging with people. I remember when I voted for Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi election I was told by the AAP that the city would work towards all these things. Bright lights on empty roads. Transport from metro stations to your neighbourhood. CCTV cameras everywhere. Instead, I’m faced with him in the papers and on the radio, crying about how he’s been wronged. (But my Arvind Kejriwal woes are also a column for another day.)
But besides the bars and the transport and the easy access to debauchery, I suppose, what really makes a city safer is its people. And that is something that does not have an easy fix. I suppose if everyone was just like you, it would be easier to make a case for it. But since all of India is drowning in a plague of unemployed people (but let’s be real, I really mean men) who come to the city looking for work and instead are forced to hang about bored and looking to kill time, there will always be the unsavouries. The jobs promised to them are not materialising and they have a lot of free time and a tendency to mostly go with their baser instincts. A group can so easily turn into a mob when you have nothing to do and someone is making pretty speeches. India is a country of such extremes: the rich, the poor, the employed and the jobless, the areas in which you live, the religion you follow, that there are disagreements almost everywhere and it’s very easy to light a fire when you have all this dry wood ready and waiting to burn.
Fix that and you can fix everything. And maybe in 10 years, I’ll take a walk through a park at night by myself and won’t think two ways about it.
November 19, 2015
Today in Photo
Hear ye, hear ye! You're all invited to my book launch next week at Toddy Shop HKV. It'll be a blast! Bring friends! Dress pretty! (that last bit only if you WANT to, of course.) #bookstagram #bookparty #newdelhi #invitation #launch
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Today in Photo
It's here! Yes I've been a busy bunny, a prolific mofo, all sorts of things stored away for winter and TA-DAH my second YA book is out! This is Split, which is honestly a fantastic book. I promise. You'll love it so much especially ESPECIALLY if you've ever been a teen of divorce. Plus drinking, making out, mean girls and all of the awful things you remember from high school (if you're currently in high school, even better)! #authorsofinstagram #bookstagram #SplitTheBook
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November 18, 2015
Today in Photo
Back to Delhi today my chickens. Regular programming of cats and books and bars will resume shortly. Kalimera, Athens! I love you! Funnest city ever. #traveldiary #greece
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