Kusum Choppra

April 11, 2014 The BJP started out as the Ram party with the Maryada Purshottam as its mascot; held responsible for escalation of community disharmony;  while one elder statement Atal Bihari Vajpayee preached Raj dharam but did not implement it;  another elder statesman, L K Advani presided over the destruction of an aged mosque to spark off riots all over the country and perhaps became a tool to blackmail him forever more. In 2014, the BJP made a huge national hulla over the fact that no other party had announced a Prime Ministerial candidate --- only the BJP had.   It quietly swallowed the fact that all other parties had released their manifestoes (for whatever paper and ink they are worth), while the Ram party chose to release its regurgled version after the elections had actually begun.  Once again it has trotted out its commitment to build a Ram temple to add to the dozens of such ram temples at Ayodhya – a feat it conspicuously failed to do durin...

I have just finished reading an amazing book Zipporah, by Marek Halter.   It tells the story of the Cushite wife of Moses, the grand old man of the Old Testament and mother of his two sons. Zipporah grew up in the household of Jethro, a sage/ high priest of the Midian kings, an abandoned baby who grew up with his own children, apple of his eye for her dark skinned beauty and wisdom beyond her years.    In her adopted tribe, she is not accepted as a possible bride, but for the refugee from Egypt, Moses, Zipporah was the wife he felt was made for him. The story of Zipporah follows the evolution of Moses from a refugee Eygptian prince to a leader of the Hebrew slaves of Egypt, prodded by both Jethro and Zipporah. The trip across the desert to Eygpt was a revelation for her: accepted as Moses’ destiny by both his adoptive and biological mothers, she is rejected by his brother Aaron and sister Miriam; animosity against Moses’ dark-skinned wife is instigated and ev...

Kangana Ranaut's Queen was a wonderful experience.  How deeply ingrained are our prejudices against ourselves?  That aspect was brought out so well in the beginning with Kangana's reaction to her rejection and her first day in Paris.  How did she find the courage to go for her dream honeymoon by herself? to make friends with the Chamber maid and then make a buddy of her? to go off on her own and made friends across the board and yet retain her own innate dignity? discover her own sense of fun and capacities. It was a mind blowing experience.  Thank you whoever was the director and Kangana for that performance. Perhaps the piece d' resistance was her so very dignified insistence that "we'll talk about it later" and then finally quietly handing him his rang and walking out so full of poise and confidence in herself. Full on Kangana.  five stars.

March 2014 Tucked away in the lanes of the inner city of Udaipur is this gorgeous little restored haveli.  Paintings on the walls, floral and other stencils on the ceiling that reminded me of the pictures my son Mehirr had brought back of the ancestral havelis at Eminabad, now in Pakistan. Lots of steep stairs to be negotiated, but worth the climb, from the first floor bedroom to the lounge and kitchen on the third floor --- awesome breezes and views of the Pichola lake, its palace and the city all around… a true roof top experience. All the basic amenities were there --- not the clinical ‘nicety’ of a hotel, but cheery interaction with Caroline and Vikram who run the place and the motley fellow guests, from Delhi and Surat, from Sardinia, Hungary, England and elsewhere --- lots of views and experiences to exchange. Perhaps best of all was a raucous Holi celebration, right at the doorstep, with a fire whose embers continued well till the morning of Duleti, plenty of c...

March 2014.   Low hillocks with vertical rows of vegetation radiating from the top.   Is this soil conservation or territory demarcation?    What about the cacti hedges? The hills are bare and brown. Flame of the forest adds spots of color. On the road side hill, there are low stone walls – are they there to prevent mudslides onto the highway? The area now boasts of some vegetation --- palm and other trees and fields too.  At one place, I spotted  three hovels amidst green fields, probably the field workers.  Beyond them was a hillock which was fairly green with bushes and trees and a kothi of stone  that looked like that of the owner, as it had a temple close  by on the top of the hillock. Many of the hills show young trees amidst many stumps and large stones.   Are these the result of the afforestation drive during the Rajiv Gandhi era? At that time, the Dungarpur  area was dotted with pits dug by the peopl...

Elections 2014 Issues Amidst all the noise over the order banning a pulp and actually going ahead to pulp the copies (what were the publishers who agreed and the judge who ordered, thinking off?,) wonder how many will consider another violation of democracy. Newspapers report on the humongous amounts spent trucking people in for massive rallies with other tech attractions the prime-minister-in-the-running of the opposition party. Favorable publicity, true or false, is another must. Security concerns demand packing off of everyone in the vicinity, locals, hawkers, transport – everyone to make room for security sanitization of the rally premises!! (Will this mean news of an incident to garner sympathy and support!) Issues in this exercise by the opposition party, to protect the candidate: =       what was the need to select a candidate believed to be favorite target practice for trigger happy terrorists? =     ...

Feminists have, all along,  demanded an level playing field and fought against ‘victim’ labels.   Have tables been turned, with raucous baying against the rapacious desire of Indian media’s Christian Grey (from  Fifty Shades of Grey, for whom elevators were a favorite hotspot)?    Don’t get me wrong.  I have been labeled a ‘feminist’ as I write usually for women, by women and of women.   During earlier rapes cases that outraged all of us, I pleaded repeatedly for public exposure of rapists – which happened in the Nirbhay case --   and for all of us to move away from that dratted “Mera Raja Beta” syndrome, to teach boys to respect women from babyhood. A stage comes when one has to wonder what it’s all about?   Hard on the heels of those gory gang rapes, TV channels blared the hounding of a woman by state agencies for their ‘Saheb’. Then L’affaire Tejpal took center stage!  To shoo ‘Saheb’ and his lady i...