geneva

so i wouldhave liked my first post about geneva to be about the snow, or the food, or the st bernards (but i have not seen any yet)
instead it is about an argument that consumed my saturday night. about quotas and reservations. though i had promised myself that after lsr i would stop having these.

it was a v long conversation with another indian girl, mediated by an excitable italian boy. who kept the conversation civil by interjecting when either of us got snippy.

it was about about caste, identity politics, reservation and education. i think economists should be put in reserved areas and not allowed to make policy decisions. they should do research and allow other people to decide how the world is run

it is impossible to convince someone who tihnks otherwise that the benefits of quotas and reservations outweigh negatives caused by the potential for misuse
and that saying that the govt 'should' do more by investing in education instead of having quotas is pointless as there are many things the govt should do but that having protective legislation makes the govt obliged to do some things.
increasing the number of things it has to do as opposed to making a wish list of shoulds.
which is really pointless as unless you are exceptionally placed the system is beyond repair for one or a group of 20,000 individuals
but economists live in a bubble. it is composed of the terms growth rate and development. and this is v problematic. they should be made to visit the real world. i dont understand why we keep studying the model of perfect competition. as we have all decided that it is never going to happen. we study not the perverions of the system; instead we keep thinking about what happens when it is perfect. it will never be perfect. it is pointless to keep thinking of what should happen.
but then perhaps it is no less utopian to imagine a less unfair world, than a perfect one.
it ended inconclusively.

movies

Kynodontas (2009), is not for the squeamish. And that's about all I can say about it without some sort of spoiler. It gave me the creeps but I would recommend it to those strong of stomach. If you saw The Ballad of Jack and Rose- this is about three times more disturbing.

Other things I watched this month include

1. The Accidental Husband- thoroughly avoidable.

2. Serenity- not as much fun as as Firefly. And highly disappointing in terms of which characters Joss Whedon chose to kill and which he chose to keep alive at the end.

3. Firefly- which I loved. Though I think its a bit incongruous that 500 years into the future we will have spaceships, advanced medical technology and yet be dressed as if in the 19th century. Not a major problem for me though; didn't detract from my glee at the whole series. Though I do think the story arc could have been written out a little more crisply. Or something. More twists. More plot.

4. Coraline- which was ok. Excellent black cartoon cat and lovely music. But I shan't be watching that again.

5. P.S. I love You- bah. Though it was nice to see Hilary Swank in pretty clothes this is not enough to make me watch a whole movie.

who said

i've just had a week of involved discussions about singing the national anthem, patriotism and why politicians should be shot on sight. now in a house like ours, where all of us are rather opinionated the degree of peace is relative to how many people are in the room. i resent being made to stand up and sing the national anthem when i go to the movies in ahmedabad. i don't at all resent getting up early and racing out at nine in the morning to find a flag to sing at on independence day. i think republic day is a bit of a fraud, though i do recognise that the constitution is quite important and all that. but singing the anthem is a gesture, and i feel like there's more drama attached to the day independence was acknowledged.

what i did today was go out and buy a pair of sunglasses. which is makes it no different from what i might have done on any other day. except that there was less traffic today.

i do find though that i am more open to reading poetry on state holidays- in general. so i spent the afternoon with agha shahid ali, cups of tea and home made cookies. and am spending part of my evening with k satchidanandan. here- have a poem. after this though i am going off to watch firefly.


Who Said?

Who said
that waiting is a
railway station in North Malabar?
That a dawn in uniform
will arrive there in a coffin?

Who said
that memory is a fragrant window
opening on ripe cornfields?
That our bodies grow cold
as light grows dim there?

Who said
that trees have ceased to follow
wind’s language?
That we must conceal
from lilies and rabbits
the news of the death of love?

Who said
that now noons will be
heavy like a drunkard’s head?
That evenings will have sick hearts
like a lover’s whispered songs?

Who said that we are running barefoot
over red hot iron
with a fistful of childhood rain?
That we will, at the end,
hand over our keys
to the same rain?

Who said that men once dead grow younger
and then they enter another Time?
That all the birds that vanished
at sunrise will return
when the world ends?

Who said
that we would understand everything
with no one saying anything,
but will still not share
anything with anyone?

© K. Satchidanandan
From: Vikku
Publisher: DC Books, Kottayam, 2002
ISBN: 81-264-0465-5



© Translation: 2002, K. Satchidanandan
From: At Home in the World:
Publisher: Full Circle, Delhi, 2002

http://india.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=2865

Dr who

Dear David Tennant,
I miss you. I know you ran off to America to make a new series but they will not get how funny and cool you are without some guidance. Neither Russell T Davies nor Steven Moffat has gone with you. Nor has some other clever fellow found and schooled by the BBC.
So basically. Yes. Come back. Even of just for the Easter special, or New year special. Or whatever hoaxy special.
Ok.
Bye for now.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxB1gB6K-2A

vaguery in the field

It has rained in Ahmedabad for nearly a whole day, withonly a one hour gap in the middle. It has been most lovely. Splooshed about all morning and slept all afternoon. Drove across the waterlogged city in the evening and returned to Doctor Who at night. Now that I am no longer alone at home I can watch these at night (otherwise too spooky).

Meanwhile I am debating the wisdom of having my hair rebonded. I invite comments from any of you who have had this done- or considered it.

Additionally I wish to complain about the rigours of having to manage a large household (3 people) on my own. This means buying food and water, instructing the cook about what to cook when, and dealing with grocers, laundry women, gardeners and a whole host of other people who float in and float out. The thing about living inside an institutes campus is that nearly everything comes pre-organised. There are minions to help with everything, and helpful aunties to call when in doubt. And despite how easy everything should be its driving me mad.

One more week of planning menus and I shall be climbing the walls. I need to leave before I totally forget what it is like to go to work everyday. To have to make deadlines instead of thinking about how the vegetables are rubbery during the rains and that its not a good time to eat palak.

irritation

i do not like being asked about when i plan to get narried. it annoys me further i am asked about my age. and it is intolerable when i am told that at 24 i have become 'pakki' in my ways- too old and hardened to be fashioned into the sort of person that a husband might want. i do not think that i was compliant at any age- but i absolutely refuse to be told off for the years stacking up. i defy you to find me one person who has grown younger as time passes,

and so being in ahmedabad drives me mad slowly.

so i am 24 and not possessed of child or husband. and this does not mean that my life is empty. now shoo. go away.

and what have i been reading?

Loretta Chase: Miss Wonderful.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. And I look forward to reading more by Loretta Chase. Maybe it just happened at a needy moment- when more susceptible than ever to books that end pleasantly predictably. Or maybe it just was a book with interesting people and a hint of a story.

Not that the book was anything like what the link to follow talks of. Nothing that had you sniggering at it.

http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/random-thoughts-from-anonymous-reader-on-men-of-danger/