Ripples In A Teacup

The Ukraine war has killed thousands, uprooted millions, and appalled people around the globe. My father tells me that war came to his living room when Saddam Hussein invaded Iraq in 1990 and CNN broadcast war visuals live . Well, I wasn’t even born then and for me, this is the first time, after I started paying attention to world politics that I have seen so much of fighting on television.  How can Putin decide whether Ukraine can or cannot join NATO?  This is not the first time Russia is invading Ukraine. They got away with it in Crimea. They have been getting away with it in the Donbas region for many years. It looks like Putin will not get away with it this time, since the Ukrainians have a very good leader in the form of President Zelensky and are giving it back as good as it gets. For Russia, it seems to be a repeat of their 1939 invasion of Finland . Don’t they say history repeats itself? Russia is attacking civilians, bombing hospitals and killing non-combatants. The...

Today morning I went out cycling as I usually do on weekends.  I had learned to cycle when I was eight, but it is only in the last one year that I started going on solo trips, without my dad accompanying me. Today I cycled towards Bandra, planning to cycle down Carter Road, towards Khar. Carter Road hugs the sea and is quite scenic. It was a pleasant day, not too warm, slightly cloudy, with a hint of the monsoon that’s just a month away. At 7:00 am, Carter Road was crowded with a number of cyclists, walkers, runners and the occasional vendor selling tender coconuts or street food. On reaching the point where one turns off to go to Union Park, I turned right to buy myself a coke from my usual shop, drank half of it and continued to cycle towards the end of Carter Road. I was about to do a smart U-Turn and retrace my route back home when I decided, on a lark, to explore a bit before I returned home.  I had my mobile phone with me and planned to use Google Maps to find the best r...

 2021 was a tumultuous year for a multitude  of reasons. But as they say, there is nothing a hot cup of cocoa and a good book can't get you through. Here are brief reviews on three of the best I read in 2021. *********************************************************************************** Em and the big Hoom Em and the big Hoom is the spectacular and devastating debut novel of Jerry Pinto. The narrator lives with his parents and sister in a small, cramped apartment in Bombay. The spotlight is on Imelda, his volatile, beedi smoking mother. “Em”, as she is affectionately called, throws the whole family into chaos as she swings between deep depressive episodes and bouts of unpredictable mania. In contrast, her stoic and dependable husband, “the Big Hoom” is the rock of the household. The tale paints a vivid, evocative picture of everything it touches through effortless and witty writing. Suffused with humor, it never strays into the realm of sickly, sweet sentimentality. Thing...

  I used to be a neem tree, tall and strong, my slender leaf fronds swaying in the wind. I lived in a beautiful forest, brimming with life. It was called Aarey. Every day my friends and I danced to the rhythm of the sun, harnessing the soft golden light to make something magical. It was oxygen, a gas that fostered life. This oxygen brought joy and life to our forest and the dirt ridden polluted city around us. Life couldn’t be better, but I had under-estimated human folly, stupidity, short-sightedness and greed           A few months ago,  we  heard the rumours for the first time. “They are going to chop down a few thousand trees at Aarey” to make space for a Metro car shed”.  At first, I didn’t believe the rumours. And why should I have done so? Why on earth would the humans want to destroy the only forest in the heart of Mumbai. Why would they want to massacre thousands?            Panic broke ou...