Annie Zaidi's Blog, page 25
June 21, 2016
The new grapple
At 57 kilos, Sandeep Tomar is one of the slighter athletes in the akhada, but has earned respect by throwing Commonwealth Games gold medallist Amit Dahiya in the World Championship trials last year. Noticing his ears, I ask, “Did you have an accident or were you born this way?”Other boys cackle while Dhaka, smiling a wattage of 30 years’experience in the sport, enlightens me: “Broken ears are a
June 12, 2016
How we are powered
I've often wondered how we've managed to avoid thinking about power supply. I mean, electricity. As consumers, we like to buy everything we need, so we are not dependent on others and so that our lives and lifestyles are not so easily compromised. Yet, we are so reluctant to actually start owning and producing our own power, and embracing the freedom that that offers. So I wrote this short
May 19, 2016
Missing Person Report
Missing Person Report
When you went missing, Nilofer, we didn't think we had anything to do with it.
We thought of accident, rape, bodies in dumpers. We visited Deonar, Nilofer,to describe hair parted down the middle and flesh of eighteen, twenty, just in casechunks of flesh was all they could find. We thought next of men, of boys.Each unaccounted smile we remembered in your eyes, we
When you went missing, Nilofer, we didn't think we had anything to do with it.
We thought of accident, rape, bodies in dumpers. We visited Deonar, Nilofer,to describe hair parted down the middle and flesh of eighteen, twenty, just in casechunks of flesh was all they could find. We thought next of men, of boys.Each unaccounted smile we remembered in your eyes, we
May 8, 2016
Law abiding citizens
It is curious, this idea of who is a law-abiding person and who isn't. There is a crush of voices around me talking about how 'we' are law-abiding and how 'these people' don't follow the rules. The more interesting question is, which set of rules? It got me to write this comic.
Do read it here: http://mintonsunday.livemint.com/news...
Do read it here: http://mintonsunday.livemint.com/news...
April 27, 2016
Love, loneliness and the female form
December 2012. India woke up to the shock of sexual assault that was so violent, it turned our collective stomach. For a while, our outrage spilled out into the streets. There was talk of changing laws. Not long after, the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) decided that lingerie was part of the problem. They decided to ban the display of lingerie-clad mannequins.
"On May 16, all 227
"On May 16, all 227
March 7, 2016
Clothes, clothes, clothes
Are you one of those people who has too many fancy clothes, and yet, never enough? Do you struggle to keep track of which outfit you wore at which wedding or party, and what set of people have seen you wear it already?
I did a short comic about this peculiar problem. Read/See it here: http://mintonsunday.livemint.com/news...
I did a short comic about this peculiar problem. Read/See it here: http://mintonsunday.livemint.com/news...
February 25, 2016
Love for the motherland - Meditation 1
You can cut it up and sell it all, bit by bit - time, labour, eyes, kidneys, womb, even the heart. The one thing you can't buy - or snatch - is human love, and a country.
Country. Who knows how it grows inside of you? What is this love? For the land? For mother? For yourself?
Motherland. The mother and the earth.
Perhaps they call a country 'mother' because you don't get to choose it. You
Country. Who knows how it grows inside of you? What is this love? For the land? For mother? For yourself?
Motherland. The mother and the earth.
Perhaps they call a country 'mother' because you don't get to choose it. You
February 24, 2016
देश प्रेम पे ध्यान - १.
पुर्ज़ा-पुर्ज़ा कोई बेचना चाहे, बेच सकता है - इंसान का समय, उसका ख़ून, उसकी आँखे, गुर्दा, गर्भ, यहाँ तक की उसका दिल. सब बिकता है, या छीना जा सकता है। सिर्फ़ उसका प्यार और उसका देश महफूज़ है।
देश। पता नहीं कैसे बनता है ये लगाव। किससे? मिट्टी से? माँ से? अपने आप से?
Motherland. माँ-मिट्टी।
शायद इसीलिए देश को माँ कहते हैं - इसमें फ़ैसले की गुंजाईश नहीं। माँ से प्रेम करना, न करना, अपने बस में नहीं है।
देश। पता नहीं कैसे बनता है ये लगाव। किससे? मिट्टी से? माँ से? अपने आप से?
Motherland. माँ-मिट्टी।
शायद इसीलिए देश को माँ कहते हैं - इसमें फ़ैसले की गुंजाईश नहीं। माँ से प्रेम करना, न करना, अपने बस में नहीं है।
February 23, 2016
How we deal with anti-nationals
First of all,
Bharat Mata ki Jai.
Offering to put a
bullet into them, hanging, beating them to death - this is not how we deal with
anti-nationals. 'We' means some Indians, like cops and law-makers, on behalf of
all citizens. We don't just kill them -
Kill them
- though that too
has happened. What we do is, we arrest them. Sometimes, we talk nicely. Five
minutes. Or even an hour.
Bharat Mata ki Jai.
Offering to put a
bullet into them, hanging, beating them to death - this is not how we deal with
anti-nationals. 'We' means some Indians, like cops and law-makers, on behalf of
all citizens. We don't just kill them -
Kill them
- though that too
has happened. What we do is, we arrest them. Sometimes, we talk nicely. Five
minutes. Or even an hour.
February 8, 2016
aurat aur mandir
कल अख़बार देख कर मेरी माँ ने कहा, अगर शनी मंदिर में औरतों को जाने की इजाज़त नहीं है, तो ना जाएँ। क्या फ़र्क़ पड़ता है?
एक पल को मैंने भी सोचा, ठीक बात है, नुक़सान तो मंदिर का ही है। मैंने ख़ुद तय किया है, किसी ऐसी जगह नहीं जाऊँगी जहाँ औरतों को बराबर दर्जा मिलता। आधी आबादी बॉयकॉट करेगी, अपने आप अक़ल ठिकाने लग जायेगी।
कुछ साल पहले तक मैं दिल्ली के निज़ामुद्दीन दरगाह जाती थी, लेकिन मज़ार पहुँचने से पहले
एक पल को मैंने भी सोचा, ठीक बात है, नुक़सान तो मंदिर का ही है। मैंने ख़ुद तय किया है, किसी ऐसी जगह नहीं जाऊँगी जहाँ औरतों को बराबर दर्जा मिलता। आधी आबादी बॉयकॉट करेगी, अपने आप अक़ल ठिकाने लग जायेगी।
कुछ साल पहले तक मैं दिल्ली के निज़ामुद्दीन दरगाह जाती थी, लेकिन मज़ार पहुँचने से पहले
