Suruma Writes On...

 Amitav Ghosh's Shadow Lines was one book that simply made me cry a few times. Among other things like family, friendship and love, the book deals with the shadow lines that separate people in the Indian subcontinent. It spills out the irony of how one people are able to live in 3 different countries and gracefully able to forget our shared history and skillfully able to hate each other.  The protagonist's grandmother who was born and raised in Dhaka in pre-independent India( read pre-partition India) goes on with her husband to settle in Calcutta. Post partition, she faces the identity crisis of belonging to both Dhaka and Calcutta which were now part of two different countries. After several years she comes to know that her uncle was still living in their old house in Dhaka and  decides to visit Dhaka to bring him back to where he should rightfully have been. She goes to Dhaka with her sister and brother-in-law who was a diplomat, recently appointed in there. It was ...

THE WAYS OF THE WORLD The last time I posted something solid was on the 12th of October,2016 and guess what! 2017 is already happening and going tight.3 months might seem quite a short span of time for an ordinary man.But in the world of politics,hate speeches,wars and truces, they supply ample time if not more, for unlikely chains of events.   It was against the backdrop of thousands of people,women and children alike,dying at the arms of their own ruler in Aleppo that the mighty Donald Trump was elected  the 45th President of the US. Aleppo served as a warning  sign to US. And US was  that vegetarian example of what can happen when a ruler turns excessively aggressive that he wages a war against his own people! It was only vegetarian because what is happening right now in Syria- the war, the horror and the lust for death is not comparable to the US situation at all.But nevertheless Trump was turning against his own countrymen,(like in Syria)seg...

Let the walls remain standing, Till   we realize that hearts,   Cannot   be divided. Let the fences spread high, Till we realize that emotions,   Cannot   be caged. Let guns stand guard, Till we realize our love is Greater   than our fear. Let curtains mar our sight, Till we realize we do not need   Eyes   to see. Let passports ask questions, Till we realize there are some questions That   don’t deserve answers Let maps separate us Till we realize lines on a paper   Can   be erased. Let the colours on the atlas Tell my country from yours; Till we realize we cannot really Tell   ourselves from each other. Let names differentiate us Till we realize that names are but letters joined together Neither you nor me Let borders separate us, Till we realize that crows fly from my land to yours Without a passport. Let states partition us Till we realize that ...

Weather experts are telling us that the monsoon is arriving in a day or two here. The monsoon is one season that we all eagerly wait for, whether in anticipation of the good, or the bad. But for me it feels strange. It feels strange to know that I will not be part of that flocking fleet of school students who huddle together early morning in the lashing rain, under the bare shelter of black umbrellas to attend the first day of another year at school. To no longer see open umbrellas in the classroom, or hear the sound of the windows shutting in the wind. To no longer have to jump across puddles and waddle through ankle deep water. To no longer be inside yellow school buses with shutters on. It feels strange to watch all of this from a distance and not be part of the experience. Sadly strange.

It has been a really long time since I have written something, thanks to my board exams. Our classes came to an end by December and starting from then till the end of April, the board exams occupied my days and nights. Looking back now, it seems that I have spent almost half a year at home, endlessly revising my portions, watching TV and reading books. Half a year since I have seriously taken up an activity like going to school, or college, or for work. And now it seems that a small inertia has set over me after enjoying the idle months spent at home. Just a slight one.