Blog@GraceJunction

“Trust me mom, you will love this place.  It has all the amenities that you need or want, more than what you ever got so far.  Weren’t you always looking forward for your own suite with an attached bathroom?  And how much you love satin bed sheets and pillow covers!  This place has got everything,” said the young suave executive on the phone, sipping his hot cuppa. 

Eavesdropping is a journalist’s forte (If I may be excused).  The tea stall tends to offer enough fodder to chew, especially when somebody is referring to an article appearing in a newspaper.  But what I heard, for once, led me to some introspection. The guy was talking about an article (or story, as it is referred to) that had appeared that day.  The story talked about some city-based industrialists joining hands to construct a ‘state-of-the-art’ old-age home with ‘five star facilities’.   It further said that the need for such an old-age home is felt because of NRIs leaving the country with their parents behind.  These NRIs can anyways afford to enroll their parents at this upcoming high class old-age home.  (more…)

Dear Diya,

25 years back, on a cold winter morning, God came to my home wrapped in a small bundle.  A pink smudgy face,tiny arms and legs…. eyes that learnt to speak much before the mouth did…In a flash of a second, i had gone from being a selfish young guy to a man entrusted by God to bring up this tiny ray of hope…this ray of happiness we call Diya…

Oh what a misfit I was at first! Couldn’t hold you properly and had nightmares about dropping you!  Could never get the diapers right and wished there was a mute button on you when you cried all night for no apparent reason!  But I learnt…and I have loved every moment of it….

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A lot has happened in the last decade or more. The face of India has evidently changed, but more alarming and worrying is the change in the soul and fabric of India.

I will just highlight one such issue to make my point about this decade of decadence.

A news item in a national daily a few months ago described a sorry tale. It was about the sorry plight of the widow of India’s one of the greatest music directors – late Sachin Dev Burman. Mrs. Meera Dev Burman, the lady in distress, is also the mother of another great Indian musician – late Rahul Dev Burman, and the mother in law of the one of the greatest singers of the Hindi film industry, Asha Bhonsle [nee Dev Burman]. (more…)

Husband alleges that wife doesn’t wear modern clothes. Another alleges that wife doesn’t have table manners. Still another felt that his wife didn’t gel well with his colleagues. Another alleged that wife refused to drink in some of the office parties. Another liked someone else after marriage and started finding faults in his wife. One husband was angry because she got out of bed late and didn’t make him the morning tea to sip along with his newspaper. A more enterprising husband felt that his wife didn’t experiment while love making! A wife suspects her husband of seeing someone else due to coming late from office everyday. Another feels that it is not right for her alone to do all the household chores, afterall, she is working too. Another feels that because she washes his inner wear, he should wash her inner wears too! Many other wives do not want to stay with their in-laws. Some are not happy because he gets angry and shouts. (more…)