Delhi rape: I live in hope things will change, I die in fear they never may

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Dear Delhi, I belong here. Please let me feel safe in my own home. Speaking strictly from whatever little experience of life I have had, which is close to 25 years, there hasn't been a single moment of being alone and out in the streets and feeling safe. Never, at all. When I was young, my mother taught me to always be cautious, never be alone, never go too far away from home while playing. And of course her concerns were valid as a mother and I hardly understood what could possibly go wrong. I remember an incident from my school days. My hostel warden was yelling at the girls' basketball team for stepping out for a bit in our playing kit, which was fairly long shorts and t-shirts. I didn't quite understand what was the big deal after all. What could possibly go wrong, we were....

Rahul Dravid, it's not over yet, you know that

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To begin with, Rahul Sharad Dravid, thank you ever so much for all the memories. When on 9th March 2012 you said, it's time for you to move on, I just thought to myself, will we - the fans - ever move on? But, like all good things, his international and first class cricket innings too has come to an end. I was way too young to be even a little part of anything he was, but I dreamt to be a part of a little something he did. And as luck would have it, I got to be a part of his farewell. I have never seen or for that matter even thought of cricket without Rahul Dravid. He is my parallel to cricket, he got me glued to the game. He became my reason to watch, enjoy and love this game, and that obviously is....

How I was looking for Rahul, and found Akhilesh

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When Rahul Gandhi first appeared on India's political scene, he was projected as the new-age neta, the politician that we never had. There was and there still is a constant buzz as to how this 'youth' leader will change the way politics is perceived in our country. I was looking for a politician who made me be believe that politics isn't something that one needs to run away from. But somehow, and I speak for myself alone, Rahul failed to translate this projection into reality. Past few days we have seen many lengthy articles and analyses on the two big 'sons' of Indian politics. With all kind of similarities and differences that Rahul and Akhilesh possess. Truth is, and I must admit it, that until this election I had very little knowledge as to who is Akhilesh Yadav. I knew he is Mulayam Singh Yadav's son, sadly,....

Me and my BlackBerry: A lovers' tiff

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The recent BlackBerry outage introduced me to someone inside me I have always I feared: the paranoid BlackBerry owner who checks her phone every five seconds. Someone who hates going to the SMS folder only because BBM is the dominant navigation feature. I realised then that I read all the office mails I get. It annoyed me when I couldn't see any new mail after my six-hour sleep. I check Twitter even before I pick up the morning newspaper, and I can't even tell you how annoying it was to have the same tweets on my timeline for more than 48 hours. Yes, I'm addicted to my BlackBerry and I'm the one who annoys everybody in social gatherings by smiling to myself! I usually find a joke funnier when I read it on my phone... and I have no clue why! (Yes, I need help.) In fact I....

To Rahul Dravid, with love

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Rahul Dravid finally calls it a day from One-Day Internationals. My only memory of being absolutely in love with someone is this man. Call me star-struck, but I never have rated anyone above him. His game, his style, his way of talking and the ability to remain calm and composed in the worst of all situations and I think I can go on endlessly. I must have been an eight-year-old when I first saw him play, and ever since there was not anyone whom I have liked better. I still have a treasured scrapbook, which has all the possible pictures and newspaper cuttings of Dravid's articles, ads and those cricket cards we used to get in packets of chips. 4th May 2003 was a teary day for me, being one out of many women who thought Dravid was the true love of my life. (That is the day he....

Kishore Kumar, the man behind the yodel

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Fondly called Kishoreda, India's music legend Kishore Kumar was the mellifluous master of immortal hits that redefined style in an industry governed by tradition. The man who followed in his brother's footsteps Kishore had worked as lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter and scriptwriter. He was also the singing voice of many actors, particularly Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna and Rishi Kapoor. Kishore had the ability to make heroes look good, he added to any melody by his unique style of singing. The legendary singer added soul to many songs that wouldn't have been what they are if it wasn't for the magic of Kishore. Born in a Bengali family Kishore sang in many languages including Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam and Oriya. Say Kishore, and 'yodeling' is the first thing that comes to the mind. He popularised yodeling in India, and there are few....

Nothing 'slutty' about Delhi's first SlutWalk

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After a lot of anticipation and speculation, Delhi finally got its first edition of the SlutWalk. The capital's version of the protest was much tamer and smaller as compared to other cities. On a warm and humid Sunday morning, when the anticipation started building up, there were a lots of young volunteers and organisers who were running around with their walky-talkies and tense faces to make sure everything goes according to the plan (and did a good job of ensuring that there was no chaos at the venue.) While other cities around the world had drawn thousands, Delhi drew just about 500 participants and an almost equal number of media personnel and photographers gathered in the July heat. The general notion that went around was that women will be dressed skimpy and revealing clothes as was the trend in other editions of the walk. But....

Women's Day: Food, the simple joy of my life

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I love my food and all the passion, surprises, and indulgence that comes along with it. Although eating is one food related activity I enjoy the most, but cooking and then getting appreciated for it is a close second. I don't know what food particularly is for rest of the world but what I do know is that it is the central theme of my (and most people around me) existence. I spent most of my teenage years in a boarding school, and that too an Army Public School. So, nutrition was the key ingredient in every meal that was served and, believe you me, taste is not what the Army cares about (with all due respect). Except those very rare "dinner nights" when we could really indulge in food and appreciate the chef's real talent. I have grown up eating Maggie made in geyser water and still,....