Richa Reads

I was hesitant to read this book, as I feared, that it will make me painfully aware of my lack of understanding of my own culture and religion. And it did. However, the author has taken care of people like us, the first chapter is called “Foreigners in their own land”. The essence of it is captured in this phrase: Nehru had written of “Spiritual loneliness”, he puts it down to having become “a queer mix of the East and the West, out of place everywhere. At home, nowhere. “For a long time,” Aatish Taseer writes, “I had a recurring dream of the ancient Indian city of Benares, superimposed onto the geography of New York”. That's how the book begins, with a sense of duality. During the course of the book, the author (Who is gay and has a Pakistani father : wondering why I mentioned this? I too was wondering why was it necessary to cover this in the book in a longish way) travels to Benares to learn Sanskrit, observes the city as a first timer and has conversations. Most of these co...

I have been missing out on posting here for a little over a month now. I still don't have much to say, hence I am borrowing a poem written by my elder one, Manyaa in school. Its called "Family" There was a lonely kid called Sophie, and she was feeling kind of down, So she got herself a coffee, And she sat there with a frown. She just failed her science test today, So things were not okay. She called her brother, without any hesitation, Brother asked where are you going? I don't have a destination. I know a park with some nice rides As I just wanna hide. So they went into the park, Brother paid for the tickets, He said, "Race you to the swings." I don't think you are gonna make it. So they sat on the swing for a while, and she slowly started to smile. By Manyaa Dikshit 7A AVM, Bandra East