different strokes, different folks !

The weekend that was, allowed me some indulgence of sorts - a good book (read it cover to cover) and TV shows/music. Perhaps it was the flu that allowed me not to step out of home, even on Ganesh Chaturthi. Or perhaps the luxury of spending quality time with my little one. Perhaps both , coupled with the fact that I was (almost) home alone with hubby travelling Far East on a business trip :)


Incidentally, it was the 9/11 weekend, something that America doesn't want to forget in a hurry ; With all the furore of the Koran burning news dying down slowly but thankfully. Also, with the babri masjid judgement soon to be out, any more such incident couldnt have added more chaos than the the amalgamation of 4 festivals coming together did (Mount Mary fest, Ganesh, Eid and the jain Paryushan). Traffic jams be damned - even my little one says travelling by Local train is better and faster as she discovered once more on Saturday  :) LOL !


well - the 3 TV shows / movies I watched had different interpretations  of 9/11, or better the date which is now (in history) as important a dateline as AD or BC - 9/11 : "24" (last season - season 8 with Jack Bauer desperately trying to hold on to a taut storyline, but failing miserably), the re-run of "MNIK - My name is Khan" and "movie: World Trade Centre" with Nicholas Cage - all based on  interpretations of terrorism and what it means to each of us, inherently or not.


But my heart went out to the book "The Truth about me : A Hijra Life Story" Brilliant. It even shames me to think that we used to despise these 'its' on the local train when they used to travel ticketless. And inspite of knowing that article 377 may or may not offer any respite to these 'mid-liners', we still continue to treat them as untouchables, harijans be damned ! Written by Revathi and translated by V Geetha, this book published by Penguin India offers little hope to the ostracised section of society, but offers an insider's guts to bring it all to the open : search for true love, socio-economic independence, and more importantly, acceptance of the family to a person thus born.  Revathi - I may never get to meet u, but I salute your guts, Aravani.
As she says In one of her poems in Tamil, Revathi sums up this sense of alienation: “In the garden of love/ Was planted the seed of grace./ Watered with goodness/ A plant sprouted/ tender, caring flower – a flower/ That does not adorn/ Sacred sites and prayer rooms.” . Truth harsher than fiction ?