The Young India

Kartikey Sehgal

Sung during the September program in Mumbai… my compositions of Faiz’s ‘Chopin ka Nagma’ and Ahmad Faraz’s ‘Tere Kareeb Aake’… sung by the mellifluous Seema Sehgal.

Savage storm and without storm. Unshaven or impeccably dressed. Amidst the clinker of construction sites and folk songs of sparrows.

Enjoy listening to them as I have enjoyed making them.
[Click on the ‘Orange Play’ button]

Chopin ka Nagma
Writer: Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Composer: Kartikey Sehgal
Singer: Seema Sehgal

Chopin ka Nagma by kartikeys

Tere Kareeb Aake …

Kartikey Sehgal

The facets of Ganapati Visarjan. From ‘Langars’ to street dances to immersion.

[Link to Video]

[Link to Video]

Kartikey Sehgal

Foreigners are silly. They are not very smart. I don’t deny this assertion by certain Indians used to traveling the world villages. Instead, I accept that foreigners are silly.

And therein lies their charm and power. It takes a certain silliness to live life merrily. And to know life.

This ‘foreign silliness’, which comes across to Indians as ‘lack of intelligence’, is simply a case of delayed mental boredom.

They don’t know as much maths and science at a certain age as we …

Kartikey Sehgal

On moods and desires of men. And their idea of romance.

What remains, of days gone by? Remnants of nights – broken in pieces. Of rains that lash on to the nonchalant mind.

There is no fire. No motivation. All of it is just desire. Desire. Called variously as fire, motivation, quest, courage. If desire be the root of all that is creative, then I have seen desire. It burns like fire, and motivates you towards a quest.

Why are places important. …

Kartikey Sehgal

[Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement: reference]

So these people are not the anti-corruption heroes? Ask around, see how many of the supporters know about them.

J. Gopikrishnan, second from left (with mic) [photo source]

Subramanian Swamy [photo source]

Without the brains (head), how does the body function?

Or is it just easier to support whosoever is ‘in the picture’.

We complain of the caste system, but is it not ‘the legs’ that gets the most mileage? [Along with the arms?]

Mumbai …

Kartikey Sehgal

Commenter Kay wrote detailed responses on the story ‘What the slut-walk is really about’. 

my dad was an attorney, and had more flexible hours than mom, yet it was mom, every evening who came home from work, cooked, cleaned, helped us with homework, and on the weekends did an entire cleaning of the house, my dad always got the full plate of food ready, before any other member, he on the other hand never handed a glass of water to her…..the

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Kartikey Sehgal

[Happy Independence Day. Independent in thought. Yet a challenge - The Young India]

My grandfather’s friend wanted for him to come and live in Norway. This is a good time – he told him in the 1990s. Things will take a bad shape. The Asians are coming over (he named the communities). He was not happy with immigrants coming to Norway. He was an immigrant himself.

He further informed my grandfather: There will be a geographical section in Norway that …

Kartikey Sehgal

I realise that I can’t be writing about ‘male ego and feminism’ and decoding human behaviour in the current political and social scenario. The recent Mumbai blasts have affected me; it’s proof that I am still sane as compared to other Indians who are essentially mannequins or puppets depending on the time of the day. That series is postponed.

I also realise that ‘sarva dharma sambhava’ is understood to mean ‘all religions are equal/possible’ and that the term stands for multiculturalism. It does …

Kartikey Sehgal

Imagine:

I threaten you to leave your city or face certain death. You leave your city, turn refugees. Of course, there is no genocide involved because you listened to me. Then the editor of DNA [Daily News and Analysis] says that though your condition in the refugee camps is deplorable, at least you are alive! And he reminds us that there was no genocide involved.

Then some of your friends complain about me. They say that I am evil and I drove you …

Kartikey Sehgal

How the people of Mumbai (and India) are stagnant

When we are attacked and killed, we look for ways to humiliate ourselves. This Indian habit is seen through the media, particularly the newspapers. Hindustan Times carried out a series on potholes in Mumbai roads. They did not investigate the habit of terrorism in Indians. That is a difficult and a controversial topic. DNA invited arm-chair columnists to make up for their lack of investigation. They printed an article by Subramanian Swamy and then …