Being a part of CHAPTERS

ART defines a magnitude of difference; creatures that break monotony, individuals that bring a revolution and create an aura of incandescent self expression.

Being a writer, poet and admirer of everything that relates to art and self expression, CHAPTERS was the best I had been a part of so far. Four artists from varied fields of profession coming together to bring about a rethinking, soul searching, rediscovering of oneself. I believe I am overdoing it but I have the freedom to..

I found a profound joy in watching each painting and photograph over and over again. I grew with colors, cried with a few and smiled with many of them. The emotions we live with are what we carry forward until we breathe our last. Individuality is an amalgamation of upbringing, beliefs, societal experiences, spiritual faiths and the heart that is either hurt or loved. Finally, we break free, we dream, we chalk our dreams, we walk them and that is when we have a complete paradigm shift!

Thank you Artists for the enriching experience..!

Amanda Ray- A photographer, a wife, a soft spoken lady with precise crisp conversations. Her photographs are from places she has been to, things she loves and definitely keeps close to her heart. She loves encouraging young artists who do not have a platform to showcase their work. She helps them represent.

Lasantha Karunaratne loved and called 'Lasa', a Sri Lankan painter. She paints canvases with intricate details woven through colors. I understood her love for paint, canvas and frames when I helped her string, hang and wrap them. I know they are her other world-her own infinite dreams!

Namrata Chattaraj- An ardent lover of music, she captures moods, emotions and variations of persona with her colors. I saw chords of my own life coming alive through her paintings. I so well related to them!

Siddharth Sengupta - A young man, growing up to the extraordinary capability of painting 'evolution'. He captures abstracts, and definitely gives meaning to them. A free mind, eloquent and a synonym to his own art.

May your journey be that of the Torch Bearer!

Business & Social Sentiments

I am not an economist but among the common mass who bear the immediate consequences of its ups and downs directly. A country that holds so much of differences in color, creed and religion is bound to have difference even in work environment and business. It is just natural to be facing the consequences of being born in India, the consequence of have a caste tag you in every step of life.

I was working outside my hometown and faced a difficulty in terms of difference in language and now I am working in my hometown and I face the Brahmin problem everywhere. I am introduced as a Brahmin, I am asked if I am one and I am even looked at with the same horrifying look. This piece of writing might be outrageous for some of my companions and associates but I need to write it.

My work or my deeds don't depend on me being a brahmin or being a girl. I strongly believe that it depends on me being a good and honest person before belonging to any other sect or community. I can never deny my birth or the existing traditional cultural thought in my beloved country. I am very proud to be an Indian. I am just not happy to see that India is being torn into various different religions, cultures and faiths which have broken the tolerance among the mass. All of us believe and talk about God at some some point of time. If every holy book has taught the same thing that there is only one God, then how can he have so many different religions and castes? 

Now, coming to the reality of our society today, I am surprised that even a few businesses exist and are doing well because they foster some faith in the society. I see that if a promotion is made by keeping in account some old followed values or virtues it becomes an immediate success. If such nerves can be tapped, then a business/organization is definitely going to grow. Social sentiments are very easy to kindle. If India is growing or needs to grow then every industrial sector needs to expand to the unreached and untouched regions of the country. This expansion has multiple facets. It becomes a success or failure and results in either increased or decreased revenue for the business. It might result in societal uplift through technology and it definitely results in employment. So many such ventures are in deep soup because the general mass do not see the reality of growth. There is no harm in a business/company to open up offices and branches in any part of the nation because it is a sign of economic growth and people should respect it. As a profit oriented organization the business or company should respect the need of local employment and local culture. We might be saying these things over and over again but alas, it is not happening at the pace it should. 

Even today, girls working in the corporate sector are looked at as mere objects of pleasure or pity. Also, those who have fought the way up the ladder are treated with indignation and are verbally lashed at. Also, the rest of us still struggling to be independent have many sentiments to care about. The only magic mantra I find working is honesty, courage and straightforwardness. I believe it is better to earn less than to be dishonest and harmful in earning more.

'Golmaal'--Fishy things! & Education

India is a land of wonders! A movie gets sued by an association that I never knew existed and it appears among major headlines. Where has education taken our people? An era of no-tolerance again? Why can't a movie be enjoyed in its spirit? I am talking about Golmaal 3 whose filmmakers are sued by The Indian Stammering Association (TISA), stating that it mocks at the people with stammering disability. Now, it doesn't make sense to me. I have a brother who stammers and can't even speak 5 words without stammering. We don't tag him as a handicap or disabled. He plays, he eats, he reads, he runs, he smiles, he makes sense when he talks and he is living. How can such beautiful people be mocked at or called disabled? Shreyas' character, Laxman in the movie, is incomplete without stammers. You have to follow an order when you make a sequel and that is all being done. Why is the suing done after the movie release? How is it just to demand the deletion of stammering scenes?

On the other hand, I may be told, by the TISA, that it feels bad when we are laughed at. I might as well agree to it. The remedy is not suing some filmmaker. The remedy of the mockery is to prove that people who stammer are ordinary people. Why do you give others a chance to laugh at you? You make yourselves emotionally and psychologically suppressed and people take undue advantage. It never matters what people think of you. What matters is how you stand by what you say, do or believe in.

The other case or major headline is the collapse of a building in Delhi where 61 are killed and 80 are injured. It calls for some awakening of people. The honorable CM, Sheila Dikshit, has mentioned about illegal construction and negligence. I respect that. My point of view on the matter would be that a big 'Golmaal' exists. Education for some is a means for corruption and nothing proves it better that this building collapse or the footbridge collapse just before CWG. People take degrees and make some high level mistakes! The common men, who want to live a common life with family, are the ones who suffer most. The hyped statement from every political, judicial or official source would be, 'The wrong doing will be brought to light and proper action taken against those involved'. I haven't quoted anyone but this is imprinted in my memory for as long as I remember. We, the people of India, are not in need of statements anymore. We need action against corruption and anti-law deeds. We should pledge not to help the wrong-doers too by giving in to intolerable and unreasonable demands.

The whole point of this piece boils down to the fact that if we have education then our actions should prove that. Fictional entertainment cannot be brought to resemble life. Also, education and literacy are two arguably different things. Education is when one can think rationally and one's deeds become a path for self-improvement and social benefit. Literacy is just when one can read and write, not necessarily an improvement in the mindset. Are we educated? Think about it!