Manasi's Binoculars

Since I have become a mother 5 years ago, not only do I have a bigger heart full of love but am also exposed to a cringe world of people who love to hate the working mothers. Yes, I am a mother and I am also pursuing a regular job, nothing unusual as I see most people around me doing the same. While I agree I have been shamed for doing this ‘anti-nirupa roy’ thing in the past by certain relatives, this is the first time fellow working women have indulged in shaming me over a 30 minute long ‘interview’ to get my son admitted to a supposed ‘high-profile’ school in Ahmedabad. It does sound unbelievable, given we have such big numbers of working mothers now than we had in the last generation. While we are talking about increasing the number of women in workplace, promoting gender equality in sports, etc. there is a big bad world out there who is probably still living under the rock or refuses to accept the times we are living in. Sadly, this working mother shaming was done to me b...

I will tell you a story – this has all the ingredients of a success. A man could do anything for the love of his life and instead of picking the moon and stars for her, he did something more realistic – Prepared a sanitary napkin for her. What? What could he be thinking? We can talk of anything but this. Shame on him, bet he lost his family over this. Yes, he did, well almost. But he was unrelenting. Shunned by his mother, his wife and his community, he continued. This man was Arunachalam Murugnatham, and he was not some iPhone flashing, suit wearing, top notch. He was the son of handloom workers who went on to do random paltry jobs to run his family. Yes that is true love and that is the thought leadership that we use as a jargon in our air conditioned conference rooms. The man also possess funny bones. In an interview with BBC he says "Luckily I'm not educated. If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the fu...

Story of Bitcoin – The other kind of Money Bitcoin is no alien concept to the global money market right now, yet it has managed to remain elusive to a big population. With the digital currency gaining momentum, this cryptocurrency is being discussed amidst certain segments of the society. For the novices, here’s some background on what is a cryptocurrency – this is a form of digital currency which involves encryption techniques regulating the generation of units of currency and verifying the transfer of funds, operating independently without any governing bank. Bitcoin became the first decentralized cryptocurrency in 2009. Since then, numerous cryptocurrencies have been created. These are frequently called altcoins, a combination of bitcoin alternative. Other such cryptocurrencies are Ethereum, Dash etc. Coming to the history of Bitcoin, a man named Satoshi Nakamoto began working on the Bitcoin concept in 2007. The concept was published in the year 2008 and released it ...

Fun times! Chaos, confusion and melodrama are an integral part of my daily routine. Running around the house with a morsel in the hand or sometimes just without it, shrill voices erupting in intervals, while trying to hide any trace of a mobile phone or a laptop. This is a common sight at my home. It has become a part of me and how! I only realised when I had a baby-less house for two days. It so happened that both baby and his dad went out of town to meet the extended family and I could not join them due to work commitments.  As many of you would dread, I too was anxious about having to live without my baby for full two days or three nights to be precise. It was like a part of me would be missing all the while. Will I ever be able to bear the silence the home will have? All such thoughts crammed me up. Finally when the much dreaded day arrived and I drove from the office to an empty home, I could barely focus on the road. Though a familiar trail, it seemed like a lon...

Yes we did not want to say good-bye and it ended without those tearful words. Neither could Pi get a chance to say good-bye to the ones who came and left his life and nor could we while being a part of his eventful life. Considering I haven’t read the novel which is the inspiration, I can’t say how much justice Mr. Lee did to it, but if we look at the film as a single entity, it is complete. Touches several things and gives us pretty much to think about. It is for adventure lovers, for spiritual seekers, for nature enthusiasts and many more alike. And who says 3D effects light up just action films, the 3D effects here were breathtaking. The thunder storms were daunting, Richard Parker was intimidating and even the little things looked magnificent.     What shook me was the belief that what we see in the eyes of the other is nothing but the reflection of our own emotions. It is something which I believed in but was unsure if anyone seconds this belief. Sea was a ...

Picturesque, pious and genuine – that’s what I think about the new sweet in town; Barfi! I went into the theatre expecting a classic but that’s not all that I came out with…I came out with a curve on my lips, moisture in my eyes and a sense of self-realization within of what we are losing. The sunshine, the greenery, simple things and the fun in them… things we do not have time to notice are the things that give meaning to life. Objects which are a forgotten part of our lives are not mere objects, but memories; the paper boats, the mirror flash games, ahh…I got the taste of the years goneby. The movie was a biography in itself, a mellifluous poem which can be sung. Wonderful casting, great direction, excellent cinematography and oh-so-soothing music! Barfi, Jhilmil and Shruti graced the screen with their enigma, charm and sacred relationships – the relationships which are hard to find today. Selfless love with no physicality involved, no show-shaa or tantrums, love in its purest ...