pranshu

On a sunny yet cold Sunday morning, I was sitting on the terrace, with the latest daily and sipping a warm cup of french press coffee. I was looking at the bird we bought sometime back. There were two of them in the starting but only one survived. As she was sitting inside her cage, she followed her daily routine. She went from one end of the cage to other and then returned flying. I thought of bringing her outside of her cage today. I opened the door and held her in my palm. The grip wasn't too tight and so she flew away from my hand, down from the balcony. As I looked down, she was sitting on a path across our house, perturbed and confounded. I rushed down, grabbed her and brought her back but for the time she was in the open, she didn't fly, she didn't move. She was just sitting there, frightened and confused. She had no idea about how the outside world functions, how you have to hunt and fight for survival. For her, the world is confined to her cage. The world is wha...

I woke up to the crowing of roosters, like in the childhood stories, in a village literally on the edge of India. Although the number of people there was a little shy for getting it qualified as a village but for whatever it is worth, it was a nice and green village. We were a group of few lucky lads who got a room there. The room was in a home-stay owned by a local, a little too cosy with amenities like a door which can be closed. Along with us, there were some more tourists who were residing there. In our room, we had two beds, an extra mattress and few charging ports. I went out of the room, early in the morning, and the view took my breath for a second. It was lush green with mountains roaring and fog too dense to get any visibility down the hill. It was the Nongriat village, at a distance of about 65 KM from Shillong in the Indian state of Meghalaya. I booked my flights from Kolkata as I wasn't able to grab an affordable rate from Bhubaneswar. I was travelling with my f...

What if the girls didn't stay out late? what if they didn't wear revealing clothes? what if they depended on their counterparts for almost everything? what if the world was a better place? or, what if this defied equality? what if it defied the right of choice? what if we all were feminists? what if everybody fought for women's rights? what if women took the highest of positions? what if the world was a better place? or, what if equality was not enough? what if the fight didn't get over at equality? what if they wanted more? what if they had the highest authorities and reservations to dictate? what if we had to fight for a different equality? or, what if we let the world remain male-dominated? what if we keep accepting dowry? what if we let the brightest minds do certain gender acquainted jobs? what if everybody was a male chauvinist? what if this is how it was supposed to be? or, what if this is not our decision to dec...