Kusum Choppra

It is the most unlikely and distasteful of matches, IPL versus India; a contest between the primary essence of democracy, elections which have made India the envy of many democratic and autocratic countries, especially our neighbors, and a game spectacle. Should we begin to suspect that there is a suspicious ‘foreign hand’ in the vigorous efforts being made to field the IPL against the elections, using the security issue as an excuse? Regular, free and fair elections are what sets India apart in the world community today; that we are able to move ahead, carrying forward the entire disparate segments of our society is the biggest achievement of the Republic of India to date. But does that status or constitutional niceties matter to the likes of the Modis, the Ambanis and the Mallyas etc the stakeholders in the IPL? The security issue is an obvious concern and a very valid one. Recent happenings in Mumbai and Lahore are pointers. There is also the consideration that the authorities w...

The entire media is on the inflation-deflation band wagon, desperately trying to convince everyone that happy days are here again because we no longer have inflation to cope with. Who the hell is concerned about inflation or its cousins, deflation or desflation or whatever else the economists and their favored media may chose to call it? How is the public at large, the Aam Aadmi affected by this about turn in the fate of Inflation, long touted as their biggest Woe? Despite the fall in inflation, there is no respite in the prices of anything to do with everyday living, the prices of onions, tomatoes, roti, milk or fruits. This is the season for those who do, to stock up a year’s supply of wheat and spices. But are the prices reflecting the harvest or the supposed death of inflation? No restaurant or multiplex or even a vegetable lari has cut its rates. On the other hand, a startling 5.5% interest rate has been announced for the more expensive range of cars in the market. Are the peo...

Pope Benedict XVI sees “clouds of evil” over Africa, which he says have reduced the poor to slavery and deprived future generations of the resources needed to create a more solid and just society. Not a word of apology for the role played by the community he heads in creating that situation and those clouds. Is there any doubt that Africa has been ruined economically and socially by not only the colonists, the neo-colonists but also the missionaries, bringing their own brand of religion and polluting style of living to stamp out civilizations that had developed over millennia? Is it not an open question that had perhaps they been allowed to survive, they may have done as well as other countries across the globe which have achieved ‘developing’ tag rather than the ‘under developed ‘ one where natural resources are still being looted by developed countries which dump their goods on them.

Yeh Hindustani banne ke chakkar mein, who feminine wali compliment to rahe gayee. Main feminine hoon; achha lagta hai feminine hona; masculine nahi. Main un auraton mein hoon jo apni femininity ko ghehna aur shakti dono banana chaheti hain. Aaj kale ek craze ho gaya hai. Hamari kalaakar apne aap ko Actor Female kehlati hain. Kyo bhai? Actress hone mein kaisa sharm? Kya actor female kehne se unpe kam sexual harassment hogi? Hum kyon hamesha purusho ke jaise bante hain ya sochne ki koshish karte hain? Kapron mein, vichar mein? Purushon ne duniya and samaj ka kya bana diya hai in sadiyon mein? Kya hum ne bhi wahi karna hai, unke jaise soch ke? Main sochti hoon ki Samaj ki bhalyee shaayad usme hogi ki hum auraton ke jaisi feminine zyaada aur male kam hi soch leke aage bhade. Maine bahut chhoti umar mein hi kitab padne shuru kiya. Obviously chhoti hi umar mein hi purab ki soch vichar and sanskar se dil oog gaya. Kyon? Maine yeh dekha ki mardon ne, chahe purabi ya paschim ke, lekhakon ne aur...

pichele dino mujhe ek bariha compliment mila facebook pe ek saheli ne kahaa kusumji you look very feminine and so indian” ispe bahut khushi hui. indian hone pe mujhe garv hain. shuru se. jab Main college me thi, tab ek baar femina se best letter ke rs. 25 bhi mile the. us chhithi mein Maine likha tha ki mere chehera truly indian tha kyon ki log yeh nahi pehchaan paate the ki Main sindhi hoon. koi punjabi/ maharshtran/ bengali to koi mussalman bhi samjhata tha. ab Main aur bhi indian hoon, ek sindhan jis ne ek punjabi fauji se shaadi ki, hamara jamai sindhi-parsi hai, bahu jain aur hum sab gujarat mein rahete hain!! saara hindustan hua hamara na? Main pali bhari videsh men. is ka matlab? ek overseas indian mansikta (mentality) jo hindustan ko nashili ankhon se dekhti hain, bachpan ka alarrpan yaad karti hai and bharat ki kamiyaan zyaada nazar aati hain. isliye khush naseeb hoon ki 13 saal ki umar mein hi wapas lauti. march 1963 mein Bharat mein hamara swagat anokha hua. Hame P...