The feet drag him slowly. The weight of the body makes it harder, the inertia tugging him, making him experience a moment of limbo between pressure, pain, and pull.
It’s been a while. The familiar road feels alien, the familial building windows now a bunch of strangers staring at a newcomer. There was a strange determination in the morning and a nimbleness to his feet. They are absent now.
Used to be once the skies told him the time. Plans, schedules, tasks, all in a day’s work. The skies don’t speak to him now. There was a deep silence which…
Reality is such a strange concept. There’s the lovely Physics that decodes the nature of reality per its theories, foundations, and ideas. Then there is the brain that twists this reality according to its own understanding, interpretation, and filters.
Our brain’s interpretations are so flimsy when compared to what exists. Distorted realities that people construct from their own experiences. I was contemplating a simple conversational exchange. You say a few words, another says a few more. You derive some meaning out of it, so do they, not necessarily the same.
In between, there exists a wall. A wall made of…
I have always been ambivalent about my birthday. There are some who make it all worthwhile. A small circle of friends who always show up no matter what. With cakes too.
The last year has been a very strange one. I hope to find some recuperation throughout this year, if possible.
There are many things I feel I should have finished by now, but unfortunately they only remain aspirations. One by one, someday, may they all come true, we'll see.
I suppose I always remain guarded about what's lying around the corner, a mindset you automatically develop when you have…
You must know victory-runes. If you want to know victory. Carve them into your sword’s hilt, on the blade guards and the blades, invoking Tyr’s name twice. — Sigrdrífumál
I love mythology. All forms, all cultures. The effect these stories would have had with the people of that era evokes great interest in me. There are lessons, parables, and reflections that can help us better understand our world, better analyse our actions, and ground us in a world unbound.
What is life but a series of inevitable occurrences? Our planning, execution, and vision fall meaningless in the macrocosm of existence. Meaning is something we derive for ourselves trying to make sense of our limited perceptions employing our organs, language, and actions. Were these anymore than rationalising our emotional puzzle…
The shift to online work has changed conversational style to monologuing
Months since a portion of humankind moved to online work. As someone who works in the content and communications field, the sudden shift has been equal parts satisfying and disappointing.
Satisfying in that I have the privilege and the option to work from home. Disappointing because going outdoors and meeting people is what I love the most about my work.
One thing that hasn’t escaped my notice though is the changing nature of conversations, both in our personal lives and around our workplaces. A casual chat near the pantry, nodding to a fellow who works in the same premises but…
Kafka’s field day if he was still alive.
Strange times we live in. Stranger people we interact with evermore. Metamorphosis, the age-old concept immortalised in literature by Franz Kafka seems most relevant today.
The word ‘Kafkaesque’ has been overused to the point of abuse, as is often with literary trends. Today, however, concepts of surreal, imaginative, and the absurd coalesce together as if it’s daily business.
There comes a time when a person’s search for meaning becomes the driving force behind their lives. When individuality, place in society, and in work, defines a significant portion of their lives. So used do they become to their subjective realities that…
Coronavirus and the human insignificance
A global pandemic was something I only read in novels, watched in films, heard about in music. Never in my feeble existence did I anticipate I’d get to witness one real time.
The death toll keeps rising, fake news keep spreading, cure seems far away. Locked down in isolation, turned away by friends, and interfacing with the world over a keyboard. Seems like the future envisioned by our sci-fi forefathers has come to bear, but only with the veneer of fear rather than progress.
Despite our technological process, isolation techniques, and analysis, nature seems to one-up us one way or…
India‘s’ democracy faces an existential crisis
An edited version of this appeared in the Indian Daily Deccan Herald.
Blatant lies, mass arrests, and internet shutdowns displayed in large bold letters on the covers of every newspaper. Students attacked, libraries invaded, gas shells fired, you’d think the country was in the throes of a civil war or a coup.
The end of 2019 has seen one of the most bizarre occurrences in independent India’s history. Scores of people, the old, young, the disabled and the enabled are protesting against an unconstitutional blight that has been passed in the name of the Citizenship Amendment Bill. …
What man comes to grips with mortality? An enlightened one? A careless one? A flippant one? Of this I know not. As young we are attuned to think we’ll live forever. As the years go by, the dark shadow of death starts creeping from behind, a sinister cloak that will nullify everything your mind holds dear.
Over three decades I have been on this world with memory. Enough cognition to understand all my follies and the world’s fallacies. As a young man, had a dare that death would consume me not. And then came experience which led me close to…
More needles are always better or more threads?
Threads are annoying little things. Thin, wiry, and difficult to control. Inserting threads into the needle is one of the hardest tasks that I have ever done, and still is. My mother used to tell me to do it, not out of some life lesson, but she herself couldn’t do it.
I seek metaphor everywhere, as is my want. It’s my little exercise to engage in as I make sense of reality that eludes my understanding. …
Ganesh Chakravarthi
Cyclist, Guitarist, Writer, Editor, Tech and Heavy Metal enthusiast — Jack of many trades, pro in two.
