Fresh out of college, I used to work for a local, city-based portal as a content writer and then later, Web Content Manager. In that guise, I met many interesting characters, attended many functions and generally led an interesting life. But of all the people I met, none affected me more than Vandana and Vaishnavi, founders of women’s charity organisation, Banyan.
I wasn’t a trained journalist so had none of the grit or the backbone needed to tough it out in search of assignments. All I had was a head …

Ahhh those good ol’ days at Ethi, when getting on a 11-series bus meant you’d get groped for sure. Full frontal assault or a guy poking his hard on into your ass through layers of clothing – take your pick. On one memorable occasion, a kind soul decided to take a lesson in Biology and flash us his gonads. Shocked my non-stop-jabber mate into Mute mode for a whole day – something of a record.
What is it with guys and these sort of animal behaviour? Is it repressed sex, …

Cos my pal Ams gave me this:

That so rocks or what? Gosh Ams, you are such a star! Thanks a bunch babes *mwah*
So, am I to pass this on to other deserving folk eh? Right. How am I to do that when you go and pass it on to six peeps, thereby taking my three as well? *mutter*
Ok, I shall cheat a bit and start with Apu – other than being one of my oldest, real world pal, this girl sure knows what she’s talking about, virtually. So, here’s to …

(This post is in response to Amrita Rajan’s post “I Am A Feminist (Blogger Gets Death Threats)”
Last year, when my dad learnt of my latest love, blogging, the first question he asked me was: are you a feminist? This seemed rather strange, coming from pater and I went ‘I dunno, maybe’ shrug shrug. To which, he replied ‘well, you either are or you’re not.’
I spent a lot of time thinking about it. Rather like Ams, my initial image of a feminist was a bra burning, unshaved armpitted woman and (even …

I heard about the Blank Noise Project last year and was real impressed with the idea. The concept of the world’s bloggers getting together to say NO to bullying, eve teasing and other assorted perils that affects an average Indian woman on a regular basis struck a chord deep within me. Which is why, I decided to voice my support of the project this year.
This year’s topic is “When did you become an Action Hero?” My answer is Right now, this very minute, when I chose to voice my …

After years of dodging the issue, I am accepting it. What has prompted this revelation, you ask. Yet another blowout with S, after yet another crowded desi gathering and I’m throwing in the towel. Why am I so? Well, for starters, I do not get along with everybody. Who does, you ask. Good q. Nobody but they mask it better. I don’t. I always thought I will not be a hypocrite and be false to someone when I think they are crap. By that, I do not mean I …

I read this old post in one of my favourite blogs and it brought back to my mind some incidents from my own past. Events that had completely unnerved me and left an indelible mark on me. Nothing really drastic that nonetheless have scarred me for life.
Some of the earliest instances date back to the time when I used to travel by bus and the ‘studs’ used to pass leery comments. Crude, obnoxious remarks that were not at all for the ears of a twelve-year old. And then there …

We have a mini-library of sorts in my team, at work. Well, mini-library seems a rather grand way of describing what it is, a collection of books, but we take it very seriously – we even have a librarian to monitor the traffic! Most of the books in this collection are light, even frivolous read – none of the blood chilling or brain workout-y type of books I’d like to get my teeth into, so I generally stay away from it.
But one day, a random thought struck me and …