THE QUEST FOR IDENTITY AND THE FIGHT AGAINST STEREOTYPES

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 5/19/2013 5:47:00 PM

'Those of you  who have studied psychology would be familiar with Eric Erikson’s theory of human psychosocial development.   One of the interesting stages that  he describes in his theory  is adolescence which he says is the period in one’s life when the quest for identity begins. All of us have gone through it ; some of us twice -once as teens and again as parents! ( Of course the later stage is probably more painful because we are often at the receiving end(...)'

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STATUS UPGRADE

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 5/7/2013 4:31:00 AM

'I am sure many of you have seen the movie – “ Pati, Patni aur Woh” ! Literally translated it means husband, wife and “the other” ( could be man or woman I guess). Now imagine a situation where the     “ Woh” gets a status upgrade to “Patni”. How would you describe her feelings? Elated, thrilled, relieved?As the person to whom this happened, I would  it  was  all of this plus a feeling of amusement because the  “upgrade”  came a week befor(...)'

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THE "MAGIC" OF IMAGERY AND ASSOCIATION

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 4/26/2013 7:52:00 AM

'The human brain is a very interesting organ.  Among the many things that it is capable of doing , what really amazes me is its ability to bring the sense organs together and perceive things that go beyond the  the normal action of that organ. Let me explain this a bit more. We all know about how the sense of smell can trigger other senses. For example when we smell something delicious we automatically start feeling hungry.  This sense of hunger can also be triggered b(...)'

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THE TOILET POLITICS

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 4/21/2013 7:30:00 AM

'I know Indian politics is akin to a dirty toilet but folks this post  is not about that! I have been meaning to write about this theme for a while.   The idea came to me last week when I was attending a seminar at a reputed agriculture university in southern India. A woman co participant came up to me and asked if I knew where the ladies  toilet was.  I pointed her  towards a corridor which had the signboard “Toilets” written on the wall.  She went(...)'

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WHEN THREE IS A CROWD

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 4/18/2013 7:03:00 PM

'Seven o’clock in the evening is an odd time for me to switch on the television.  But switch on I did and found myself watching some channel that was showing a poor rehash of the lovely Mahesh Bhatt film “Arth”. For those of you who have not seen this movie, it is about a married woman whose husband is having an affair with another woman. She tries her best to save her marriage – talking to the “other” woman, pleading with  her husband to give their marriage another chance (...)'

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Standing out in a crowd

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 4/12/2013 12:38:00 PM

'My daughter pointed to a T Shirt at a shop window  in our neighborhood. It had the message       “ Everyone reads my blog” printed across it. “Come on mummy you should buy it” she urged.  When   I laughingly refused saying that it would actually be a lie if I wore it as only a few people read my blogs, my husband pitched in saying that he could get the manufacturer to personalize it with my blog URL.  I was horrified at the ima(...)'

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TRANSMIGRATION VS TRANSLATION

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 4/10/2013 4:44:00 PM

'We were at a cinema theatre a couple of weeks ago. Being early for the show  I was trying to kill time looking at the posters of the upcoming movies. That was when my eyes caught sight of a poster which seemed to ring a bell in my mind. I was wondering where I had seen something like this . My daughter enlightened me by saying  “ This is the Tamil version of the movie Delhi Belly”.“ Delhi Belly” is one of the wackiest movies that I have seen in recent times. Set in Delhi, (...)'

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BELIEVING IN CHANGE MAKES IT HAPPEN

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 3/29/2013 6:39:00 PM

'( This post is part of Blog Adda's campaign on men who are "Soldiers for women:)  I have worked for nearly two decades with the non profit or the NGO sector.  I like to call this the “change” business!  Like any business, this sector also markets commodities in the form of issues in which change is required.  There are socially conscious people like you , me, governments, corporates, who are all  investors in this business of change.The NGO sector, for(...)'

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TRADING IN FLESH

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 3/24/2013 7:11:00 PM

'No, this is not about butchers!  There are forms of flesh trade where the person whose body is sold is not fortunate enough to die once! There have been two articles in THE HINDU today which have dealt with what can be termed as the “oldest profession” in the world! One of the articles that was published in today’s Sunday supplement talks about a village in Uttar Pradesh where all women of a certain age sell their bodies for sexual gratification of men. These women belonging to(...)'

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Living in Exile

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 3/20/2013 7:00:00 PM

'We emerged from exile today – both of us, mother and daughter ( though I guess the daughter had some parole style excursions into the mainstream world over the last two days). Where were we, you might ask? Well, we were both away from communication interface options with the rest of world – aka as the internet!She was having her board exams for the tenth standard. A child who is very easily distracted, we decided to keep her focused on her studies by regulating the opportunities for(...)'

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The “Religious” Indian

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 2/21/2013 5:23:00 PM

'I remember my first visit to the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry in 1993. It was early morning . I was filled with peace as I made my way to the Mother’s Samadhi.  The silence around the Samadhi,I realized soon enough  was very deceptive- there were atleast a the  dozen  or so people, sitting around with their eyes closed and praying. The flower decorations were some of the most beautiful arrangements I have ever seen!  No body spoke and  the tranquilit(...)'

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URDU – A DISAPPEARING BEAUTY

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 2/19/2013 11:07:00 AM

'Remember the  lines – “ Yaar mera khusboo ki tarah, jiski zuban Urdu ki tarah” from the song “Chhaiya Chhaiya”  in the Mani Ratnam film Dil Se? (Yes, it is the same song where you see SRK and Malaika dancing atop a train .) Roughly translated, the words mean – “ My beloved is like a fragrance, a person whose language is like Urdu” . While, not discounting the sweetness of every language when spoken or written to convey love, Urdu has its own special flavor. Though I can sp(...)'

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YEH DOSTI…..

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 1/29/2013 6:18:00 PM

'I have often heard my father say” I  can do nothing about relatives but thank god I can choose my friends”.  Living as we did, so far away from our so called “extended family”, we could never really bank on those aunts , uncles and cousins in times of need. But help came to us, nevertheless from the large number of friends who were part of our lives! So  it was not really surprising to have friends become a very important part of one’s social support system.  I (...)'

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HIS SILENCED VOICE

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 1/16/2013 6:31:00 PM

'The picture of a dog peering into a speaker  searching for the master whose voice he is hearing, is something  that many people of my generation can relate to. I don’t know how many of you noticed this piece of  news –  HMV has been placed under “administration”, a terminology indicating its insolvent/debt ridden status.  Somehow, it seemed like a personal loss to me.There are many people of my generation who would have grown up listening to vinyl records. I(...)'

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THE PINK BUFFALO EFFECT

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 1/14/2013 3:31:00 PM

'Can you  visualize this scene-an amused looking, otherwise placid , cud chewing pink buffalo sitting on your bed baring its bovine teeth in a grin? Sounds crazy doesn’t  it? Well this is the sight that keeps popping up before Harry Mandola once he quits drinking. Deeply troubled, he consults his doctor who tells him that it is nothing but withdrawal symptoms on account of  suddenly giving up liquor. The doctor’s overweight wife, dressed in pink T shirt and tights some(...)'

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POISED ON THE BRINK?

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 1/8/2013 5:18:00 PM

'The last few weeks have been very depressing in a way that I am unable to explain. Newspapers and television channels  have seen an outpouring of news about rape and protests against rape. There have been asinine comments made by politicos about how women “ invite rape” upon themselves- the need for a dress code, about “Indian culture” etc!  On one hand I feel outraged and angry when I read some of these comments and on the other hand I feel a sense of emptiness . I want t(...)'

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CANDLE IN THE WIND

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 12/29/2012 6:54:00 PM

'I held back the urge to write about her. I don’t know why. Deep down there was this hope that she would survive.  Her survival, in my mind had become something symbolic  and akin to hope for a new tomorrow, where there would be greater safety and equality for about half of our country’s population. I  don’t know her name. I don’t want to! She represents to me multiple identities of Indian womanhood all rolled into one ! Needless to say, ever since I heard about her de(...)'

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OVERCOMING THE BARRIER OF CLOSED MINDS

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 12/25/2012 6:55:00 PM

'In my last post I had committed blasphemy-  I had trodden on what can only be called the “holy cow” ! I had dared to criticize the “purest” of the “pure” form of music enjoyed and appreciated by the “twice born” and their close brethren! I had also made some comments about making it more “inclusive”. One of the readers challenged my question about why other singers were not invited to the Thyagaraya festival at Thiruviyaru by asking it was as odd as wanting to chant the “Vishn(...)'

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FROM THE “EXCLUDED” TO THE “EXCLUSIVE”

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 12/22/2012 6:45:00 PM

'Come  December and one can see the city of Chennai  come musically alive. All the various “Sabhas” and their timetable of “Kutcheris”  are topics of discussion among a group of people who call themselves ‘rasikas” or music lovers.  National dailies like  “The Hindu” give these events a lot of prominence especially in their Friday review section.  If you go past some of the auditoriums where these performances are held you can see ladies in brightly colo(...)'

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PUBLIC OREINTATION IN DELIVERING OF PUBLIC SECTOR FINANCIAL SERVICES

Author : Meera Sundararajan      Blog : Chronicles of an Unknown Indian      Date : 12/16/2012 3:35:00 PM

'Our generation is what I call “Children of the Public Sector “era.  A large number of today’s middle class India had parents who were working in it and we grew up believing that public sector was what kept the country going and the economy safe.  The post 1990s era was full of misgivings as people wondered how this country would shape up with the “opening up of markets”. NGOs held dharnas to protest against the  new economic policy- I myself have been part of the aud(...)'

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