total timepass...

I recently saw a play in the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, called 'The Meeting'. Before I went for the play, I had no clue where it was located. Once I started driving there, it turned out to be in the CBD (Central Business District) part of town, which is known to be its not so safe part. I always feel a bit unprepared for driving in that part of the city, but I had booked the tickets, so turned up anyways. Once there though, it was a different experience. The whole area around, called Newtown was quite vibrant and full of people chilling and shopping in the mall while some had come to visit the museums around. Another example of how perceptions can be different from reality:). The theatre was quite small and felt very cosy with a few seats surrounding the stage in three directions. The play was quite short, barely an hour or so. And I hadn't read about the play before, so it was a complete surprise for me. Sometime in between the performance, I figured out that it w...

After years of trying to figure out why exactly the book 'Lajja' was banned, and unable to find a copy to read, I finally laid my hands on the book recently. Given the title of the book and the fact that it was banned, I had very conveniently assumed that the book was on women and their plight in Bangladesh. But on reading it, I realised it was on a totally different topic - the constant and ongoing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh due to the slow and steady transition of a secular nation to a fundamentalist one. And all of it was news to me. To be honest, the book is nothing extraordinary in its quality and way of writing. It shifts from a fictional story about a Hindu family which has to face constant struggles during riots that broke out in Bangladesh after the Babri Masjid incident, to a documentary which lists all the atrocities and unfairness faced by Hindus over the years. The book is not too well written and can be easily critiqued. But inspite of its failings,...