Blog@GraceJunction

You are crossing the road and suddenly your thoughts are disrupted by a booming hooting sound. What do you do? If you know it is your fault, you will smile. When you are at a picnic and there’s a photographer who is knocking your head with his requests “please sir, please ma’am, I want a group photograph”. What do you do? Well, if you are very irritated you will either throw a coconut on his head or say something that would stress your muscles, else if you are sophisticated you will perhaps say, “all right, please get your work done quickly” and you would force a smile. (more…)

“Abbu khudaa hafiz”, said Munir as he left the house for his school.

“Just take care of yourself beta”, said Moin, as he closed the door of the shanty. Munir’s school was in a HINDU- dominated area called Vejalpur. The wounds of 2002 riots were still afresh in Moin’s mind, as he saw his 10-year-old Munir running with his school bag towards Ronak, his best friend who was waiting on the ‘border’ – the name given to the crossroads between Vejalpur and Juhapura. Juhapura – the muslim dominated ghetto of Ahmedabad, and probably the largest muslim ghetto in entire Asia. But for Munir, these facts didn’t matter; only his home did. (more…)

Hey Freddy,

I reached Mumbai a week back in search of a better job and opportunities. But I have been missing those beaches and the time that we used to spend watching those beautiful waves, sipping lemonade, our hangouts near D’Souza restaurant and those football fields.

Here you get the real taste of city life. The huge population, the busy streets and stations, rush hour, the confluence of the rich and poor, skyscrapers overlooking hutments and slums, brightly lit buildings hosting glitzy and glamorous events and the hungry man who begs on the roads and sleeps on the streets. (more…)

A couple of months back, I was sitting on the porch with my son. A heavy spell of rain had just come to an end. There was water all over in the parkway and both of us sat down to enjoy the freshness that the rain had ushered in.

Suddenly my son spotted some movements in the water, that had collected in the parkway. He immediately questioned me,  Dada what’s that in the water ? I realized that there were ripples and bubbles’ springing up in the water as rain was still drizzling. I replied to him, Son its rain. He immediately sprang back and replied, but Dada, there’s no rain. He was true in one sense as we really couldn’t see the rain drops. (more…)

Barack Hussein Obama II, born on August 4, 1961 to a Kenyan father and White American mother has become the President of the United States of America, the first African American to do so. This news flashed on every news screen in the first week of this month. The President elect of the United States is all set to officially take over from George Bush on the 20th of January, 2009. (more…)

The news that I read today was the second of its kind coming out of the U.S as a result of the Global economic crisis. Another one of the non resident Indian brutally killing his family, this time it is Lakshminivasa Rao Nerusu. Originally from Andhra Pradesh, Lakshminivasa had lost his job a few days ago and was in a state of depression. He brutally killed his 37 year old wife, 14 year old daughter and 12 year old son. He had inflicted grievous injuries to the head and neck areas of his victims, sadly they were also his loved ones.

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