Window Seat Scribbles

It's a question that has stumped all, and that too since centuries. What do women want? Women have been labelled puzzling, moody, incredulously unpredictable creatures - and I do not disagree or deny any of these. We are all of this, and more. We are foolishly childish when happy, vicious when angry, oddly silent when hurt, smiling while maybe crying inside - we are quite a handful, to say the least.  With all our weird eccentricities, no wonder men don't get us. Men, conditioned to support, encourage and bear the major "responsibilities" in life - Men, those delightfully upfront creatures who wait for a similar upfront response from women...only to be met with monosyllables, or worse, total silence. Sounds familiar, eh? The famous book "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" tried to tackle this problem head on years ago. I remember the initial few pages were about how men should simply listen, and not do  anything per se, since all that the wom...

Being a millenial comes with its own pros and cons. From being born in mid/late 80s when the technology boom had not yet hit us, to growing up and becoming literally slaves to our mobile phones and laptops. We have had opportunities that our previous generations couldn't even dream of and (at the very least) the chance to have a quality of life that they could hardly, if ever, hope to afford. Small wonder then, that our hobbies and interests have also evolved from simplistic joys like reading at home to now travelling extensively to the places we read about or opting to attend music festivals in different countries to experience the music itself -these being only a few examples among many, many more.  Like most others of my generation, I enjoy travelling immensely. Travelling was more of a compulsion rather than a hobby growing up thanks to my father's job, but somehow I grew to enjoy the experience and continue to do so till date. But more than the different places, the ...

Of late, "Feminism" has become arguably one of the most feared words and "Feminists" have come to earn labels like "Man haters" and "Feminazis". So much so that the actual meaning- the interpretation of what it means to be a feminist- is now blurry to most. But that's not the most unfortunate part. The most unfortunate part, in my opinion, is the fact that it's not the men, but the women who contribute to a skewed interpretation of what it means to be a Feminist.  In the age of social media frenzy that we live in, the need to be politically correct seems to override everything, sometimes even plain logic. Ads and movie scenes and dialogues which may have been totally uncontroversial say, ten years ago- are now subject to extreme scrutiny and are combed for sexist tones, if any. Doing so is most definitely welcome and I couldn't be happier about it, but going overboard with it is simply silly, and sometimes downright ridiculous. ...

It is a Sunday morning and I wake up a few minutes past eleven in my hostel room. Groggy from over seven hours of sleep in the chilly Dibrugarh winter, I promptly turn over and sleep some more. I have an off from work today, I haven't made any plans with friends (yet) and the day is mine as to what I want to do with it. This sounds like any normal student in his/her early twenties living in a hostel. Hostel life can feel alien and uncomfortable in the begining, but once you get used to it, one starts realising the perks it comes with. Sure, there are rules to stick to and curfews to be met (only girls hostels have those, mind you), but it gives you by and large a sense of freedom and independence not encountered before.  Most graduate course programmes are over by the time you are in your early twenties, and if you are in med school, you may be in it for a while longer. But throw in masters courses, university programs for post grads and you get the option of staying in ...