Things That Bang

Posted by Deepti Lamba at 10:44 PM Stumble It! digg this del.icio.us Fark It | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Deepti Lamba at 08:34 PM Stumble It! digg this del.icio.us Fark It | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

15th August is round the corner and flags are waving. India is the largest democracy in the world and people are thumping their chests saying they are proud to be Indians. But with pride comes the niggling uncomfortable admission - we hold a slice of land called Kashmir hostage.

There can be no bewilderment, no moralizing and no hatred but the facing of hard facts. Why do we need Kashmir? Ask the soldiers who have given their lives. Young bachelors who are sent there to fight by the Indian army. They know the reason - its not to bring glory to our tri-colored country or to save its reputation.

It is hard cold military strategy. We need the Himalayas to protect us against Pakistan and China. Kashmir merely happens to be part of the meat the dogs are fighting over. The people running out into the streets demanding Azadi, well, yes, we Indians see it and we too have paid over three decades for holding on to them in blood and tears.

One's terrorist is another's freedom fighter is all talk that goes around in circles and leads nowhere. Ground reality lies in history books where nations are carved out in blood and only break when the maggots from within make it hollow.

But India is the young Gir lion, roaring its might to the world, its end nowhere in sight. Letting Kashmir go will not break the land. India is strong in its foundations and its citizens pragmatic enough to know that for secure borders we must pay dearly.

The rest is all fluff - the debates, the moral dilemmas, even the patriotism and flag waving. Why do we hold on to Kashmir? The answer is simple - if we don't 'they' will kill us.

Posted by Deepti Lamba at 12:13 AM Stumble It! digg this del.icio.us Fark It | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

On my first art class the art teacher let us know that artists draw the same painting a couple of times and then put the best one up. We all groaned. My myth of reaching perfection with minimum effort was dashed. At the work shop we are learning how to draw from the basics. The class lasts for two hours every Sunday and most of us groan and moan while sitting cross legged in a kindergarten classroom since the chairs are too small for our big butts. We hunker over our boards and sketch in broad strokes. We are told to rely less on the eraser and more on our eyes, our hands, our wrists and our arms.

I am still at the bottom rung and believe it will take me years of practice before I can show my work to people. What comes easy to some of my friends in the class takes me over half an hour. But thanks to my other passion - writing, I know one can reach their personal style with practice. But it takes a butt load of practice before something decent can be produced.

Thankfully the art teacher believes in encouraging all our endeavors and we too encourage each other. In other words the criticism is sugar coated- its wonderful and you will get better at it.

Words are said with genuine smiles and encouraging pats on the back. There are no ego clashes in the class room, no putting each other down, no shredding of work and dreams. Its a workshop where we are polite and bound by our passion to learn how to create art.

Posted by Deepti Lamba at 07:29 PM Stumble It! digg this del.icio.us Fark It | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

There is always something new to learn and sometimes what one learns pretty late in life is common knowledge to most. Take for example the term Blue Balls. It denotes a condition where an aroused guy doesn't get sex, his testicles swell like mini balloons and there are a whole lot of tender feelings down there:D

In better scientific jargon it means - If ejaculation does not occur there may be a lingering sensation of heaviness, aching, or discomfort in the testicles due to the continued vasocongestion. This unpleasant feeling has popularly been called blue balls, perhaps because of the bluish tint that appears when blood engorges the vessels in the testicles.

When the condition was explained to me my mind raced back to the book I read a while back about Gandhi and his sex drive. The book is called Gandhi Naked Ambition by Jad Adams where the author talked about Gandhi, like most powerful men, having a high sex drive. But Gandhi considered sex to be dirty and through all his trials and tribulations he tried to fight the biological urge. He even lay down with his great grand nieces during the massacres that took place during the Partition of the country. His theory was - the greater his personal satyagraha the greater chances of him succeeding in achieving his goals - bringing peace to the land etc.

Gandhi lay down with young women but never really had sex with them ie if we go by the Clinton theory of sex - no penetration but he did have his wife, Kasturba Gandhi, 'help' him out till she was alive and later it became the job of other women. Helping out meant hand jobs of course and I understood as much but what I didn't get was - why did he need it.

My naiveté had me in splits last night. I am sure Gandhi did not want to be called the Blue balled Mahatma;P

And yes, the review of the book is due and I will tackle it in the near future.

Posted by Deepti Lamba at 08:04 AM Stumble It! digg this del.icio.us Fark It | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Deepti Lamba at 09:49 AM Stumble It! digg this del.icio.us Fark It | Permalink | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)