Published inThe Quirky Indian·PinnedThe Necklace of Dirty LegsWhile baking my heart with your bundled warmth, pouring you into the willing contours of my body and smelling your night’s mouth deliciously foul, I began consisting of you and let fatherhood seep in slowly like a summer evening’s smell. When I kissed your knuckle’s folds, sipped your cold toes, tossed promises…Daughter2 min readDaughter2 min read
Published inThe Quirky Indian·Jul 7, 2021Member-onlyI wait to Tie My Lace: A Poem for EveryoneThe endless wait out of the pandemic I wait to tie my lace Share breaths with someone Drive to a mart, fill a real cart Loaded with eggs And my girl’s laughing legs I wait to breach the front door And get on the bloody road Show my face underneath Make the distance ‘social’ again And hug someone I…Covid-192 min readCovid-192 min read
Jul 1, 2021Member-onlyKutte Main Tera Khoon Pee Jaunga!Dog! I will drink your blood. If you are as antique as me or worse, you must have watched countless movies of the 70s and the 80s where Bollywood’s Veeru Paaji a.k.a. Dharmendra had repeatedly professed his eternal love for the blood of the canines. If Shahrukh couldn’t do without…Dog6 min readDog6 min read
May 21, 2021For My Mother(This poem is written by my thirteen year old son Aekansh on the Mother’s Day) Dear Mother, The things that I haven’t told you till today About how I felt along the way For the love you gave me and for the hard work you’ve done, Here’s appreciation from your son…Motherhood1 min readMotherhood1 min read
Published inThe Quirky Indian·Mar 11, 2021Memories of a Man I Have Loved More Than Anyone ElseI often think about him at night. In its magical silence, when you hear the sound of your own breath and feel its warmth on your arm, when you are intimately aware of your beating heart, your blood vessels throbbing in your temple or the subtle movement of hair on…Grandparents7 min readGrandparents7 min read
Published inThe Quirky Indian·Sep 5, 2020Member-onlyMusings of An Indian TeacherAs I sit in my cool cabin under a puddle of light from a meek table lamp, a few early gifts by my side, outside a predicted rain merrily jumps off a white corrugated roofing sheet, needlessly smoking and clearing my window pane, its hiss offering background score to the…Teacher3 min readTeacher3 min read
Jul 11, 2020Member-onlyWay to 27k Followers: Low-cost Instagram Promotion Strategy and TechniquesPractical tips for making the most of your Instagram ad money — I wish to keep this post short and no-nonsense so that you quickly get to know what you need to know. Please note that this is not a generic how-to-run-Instagram-page type post. …Social Media8 min readSocial Media8 min read
Jul 6, 2020Member-onlySonpapdi, the Kingdom of Filth and Other Unimportant ThingsLast Diwali, I and my wife found ourselves vigorously arguing about whether or not to ‘upgrade’ a particular thing in the house. The grinder should have been the most qualified. It’s the only surviving appliance from our marriage days, its white plastic body drunk on all manner of pastes and…Climate Change7 min readClimate Change7 min read
Published inThe Quirky Indian·Jun 18, 2020Member-onlySpineless People on the Couch: India’s Disappointing DarlingsYears back, at a hill station in India, my maternal uncle who was then a military doctor, mildly chided a girl, asking her to stick to the queue instead. People gaped at him, shocked, thinking what hole this plump, mustachioed gentleman just emerged from. Because the girl — if age…India4 min readIndia4 min read
Jun 15, 2020Member-onlyBubble-wrapped Racism: America is Too Insecure About Its Black PopulationEvery time I watch a Hollywood movie, I am reminded of how necessary it is for the makers to drop in a few black people. Doesn’t matter if the insertion of the characters looks deliberate or even forced — sometimes there is just one character whose only purpose is to…George Floyd4 min readGeorge Floyd4 min read