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Letters From the end of the world #1

“One day,” you said to me, “I saw the sunset forty-four times!”And a little later you added: “You know, one loves the sunset, when one is so sad…” “Were you so sad, then?” I asked, “on the day of the forty-four sunsets?”But the little prince made no reply.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince Dear, […]

Maari Selvaraj and the Women of Maamannan

Maari Selvaraj’s ‘Maamannan’ is mostly a story about men. The main protagonist and antagonist proclaim as much during the course of the movie, reiterating that their vendetta is more personal than anything else. Of course, we realize that it is just posturing. Their clash might be personal but the circumstances surrounding it are anything but. […]

Andrey Rublev reminds me of me

All my life, I have hated loud men. My father, like most fathers, was an angry man. He worked at a job where he was paid to yell at students, tell them what they screwed up everyday, bring them back to their senses. He did not do it with malignance, but it made him no […]

Pune OPen Day 1: Fan diary

The bustle begins at 10:48 in the morning. On Court 1, the chair umpire goes over the measurements once more. Inch tape in hand, he walks across the hardcourt, ensuring that the net is at the perfect height and if the stands propping the net up are at the perfect distance from the sidelines. He […]

A reflection on Kantara, God and movies

Do you believe in God? If you do, do you believe in one that micromanages the shit out of humans or one that is more of a passive observer of human hubris? If not, do you also believe not believe in a grand Evil? All these are questions that Kantara forces you to confront, regardless […]

Time

Bruce Truman sat in his office, his feet propped up against an enormous mahogany desk and humming a tune he didn’t remember right. Outside the door, his secretary was busy polishing her finger nails a bright fire-engine red, ignoring the ringing telephone beside her. Just when the call was on the throes of being disconnected, […]

Ponniyin Selvan – I: A short review (NOT!)

Lemme preface this by saying a few things: I am simple man, I like spectacles, I like pretty things. I like smart characters acted out by charming actors. I like stories that have a grand scope, I like schemers and plotters and I like them being outsmarted by clever women who look undisheveled from the […]

I give you permission to break down

People wouldn’t care if you let it all out, you know?You, who have been so strong for so long,You, who’s had the sky fall on your head and is still going on as if everything is fine,You, who thinks it is a sign of strength to remain strong, even if every fiber in your body […]

Ruins – NaNoWriMo Day 1

In the dark, Raske placed the bricks. Everything burned around him. Illuminated by the burning houses, Raske continued placing the bricks. Little Tavi and Quaran had died that morning, taken by the plague. Through his tears, Raske continued placing the bricks. The wind howled overhead, the beginnings of a hurricane that would soon ravage the […]

I think of you when I am tired

On the afternoons I am swamped by workand on the evenings when the drive back home takes twice as long,When my mother yells at me from the kitchen againand when the midnights turn into early mornings without warning,Standing in unruly queues with no concept of personal space,sitting in theatres through the sixteenth minute of a […]

Letters from the End of the World #2

If you must know, Watson, I’ve been feeling a little bit down of late. It’s the process of maintaining my sobriety. It’s repetitive. And it’s relentless. And above all, it’s tedious. When I left rehab, I… I accepted your influence, I committed to my recovery. And now, two years in, I find myself asking, ‘is […]