Kartikey Sehgal
Omar Abdullah could not become the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir through honest means. So Omar Abdullah went to the parliament and stated that he would fight for “every inch of Kashmir’s land” and “we will fight till we die.”
And Omar made the Muslims of the state feel that he is with them in fending off the ‘aggressive Hindus’.
Let us quickly relive that glorious period in Omar’s political career which redefined his status as protector of the Muslims.
Kartikey Sehgal
The Pope has stated that he wants to save humanity from ‘gay threat’. According to him, humankind deserves the same attention as the dying tropical rain forests.
It is common knowledge that the biggest threat to rain forests is ‘mankind’ or humans. And the church has maintained that one of the biggest threats to mankind is the homosexual. Thereby, the church has always kept homosexuality out of the realm of normal sexual behavior. Never mind that it has always existed and that the church is among its secretive followers.
Kartikey Sehgal
I cannot accept the mirth of trivialities. Of a living below life. I’d rather joke with the honest labourer whose design on the wet brick is hardened by the sun; harmony between nature and men.
But I am given, and society has ordained, the acceptance of rooms without sunlight, precision defined within dark windows and glass doors.
Kartikey Sehgal
[The author visits the sites affected by terror and meets some security personnel.]
“I could hear the blasts all night long. I shut the windows and bolted the doors. After all, they had just passed the lanes near my home. They could have come to this building and taken entire residents as hostages.”
She is the wife of an Indian Naval Commander who missed her husband on the night terrorists attacked Mumbai at various places.
Kartikey Sehgal
Everyday, around 10 people die on Mumbai local train tracks. But that is not ‘The Taj’. No foreign national comes and kills them. Their death is standard legitimate death. And not sufficient to make headlines.
If a man/woman falls from a train and dies, then the event is deserving of our apathy and disinterest. If a foreigner pushes a man out of the train, then it is an attack worth some media coverage.
Kartikey Sehgal
A scientist studies some fishes in the Amazon River. After noting their weight, size and food preference, she adjusts her oxygen mask and prepares herself for a few hours of observation. Outside the river, her team sits under a tree. Some reptiles and insects watch the men intently; watch them scratch their head and make some unidentifiable expressions. At once, the animal kingdom is superior to the men. They exhibit the qualities of patience and observation and are equals to the scientist under water.
Santa Singh
Diwali is time for shy men to become brave hearts. My two friends decided to be generous and give a box of sweets to a girl.
About these two boys: They seldom talk to anybody. One of them is bespectacled and doesn’t tuck his shirt inside his trousers unless there is a formal function. He walks timidly, miles away from girls. The other one is a devotee of his friend. He is tall and lanky and very supportive of all forms of cowardice.
Kartikey Sehgal
[Why we celebrate Diwali: here and here.]
This Diwali, may you live up to your personal best.
When the road outside is lit with lamps and fireworks, may you find solace in your room with books and ideas. May you find solace anywhere you like.
May it be festive inside your self, so that when others greet you they don’t see decadence covered with a smile.
May you greet others with the entirety of confidence. You are not obliged to wish others. You can not change their life course with greeting cards and sweets. The best you can give them is your happiness.
Santa Singh
Some female acquaintances remarked that women have no reason to walk late at night and behave like **u** (the word) and attract attention.
I told them, “That’s because you want to get married and stay at home. You are working right now only to attract the highest earning man and make his home. All you are interested is in money and wealth.”
They didn’t respond and I continued casually.
“You can say that women can stay at home because you won’t mind doing so.
Of course, the home has to be wealthy and your friend circle influential.”
“You are a dog”
“You can’t get a girl yourself so you are…”
“You don’t know how to talk to girls”
Kartikey Sehgal
My mother and I made fun of Chinese babies while watching the film ‘Christmas in August’. Then we discovered that the film is Korean and we promptly implied all Chinese jokes to Koreans.
In this film, actor Suk-kyu Han plays the role of Jung-won, a terminally ill photographer who owns and manages a photo studio. We laughed whenever Jung-won smiled; he smiled almost all the time. We laughed when his father, who knows about the illness, stared passively or solemnly at people and things.