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The Best Lines from Lego Movie 2
I was a rather reluctant candidate when it came to watching Lego Movie 2. However, I was pleasantly surprised by its nuanced humor. Scathingly brilliant! A must watch if you love intelligent comedy. Sweet Mayhem: Bring me your fiercest leader. Wyldstyle: [referring to Emmet] This guy is special. Sweet Mayhem: This guy was a fierce…
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The Horror Within: On watching Life
After watching Life (2017) on Netflix I wondered how the small responsive unassuming alien life form grows, feeds, and transforms into a creature that eventually squeezes the vital parts of the body in order to nurture itself. Much in the vein of Frankenstein (1818) killing its creator/stimulator and thus, warning of the perils of meddling…
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Standing Together and Apart
The importance of space in relationships is rather under appreciated. While communication is the glue that holds people together, it’s ally space helps keep the bond intact. Khalil Gibran in The Prophet (1923) writes about marriage saying, “Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.” Is…
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Building Inclusive Safe Spaces: my brown dream
Two institutions have come under the radar recently for allowing their platform to spout bigotry; both apologized, and in their inner circles professed that the core consensus was to give everyone a forum to vent out their inner feelings. However offensive they might have been they had the “right” to express. Here is my (to…
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The Uterus Inheritance
I remember the Ambassador rides from Bhubaneswar to CuttackYour tussar sari draped around your shoulderAt home you would read files, make notes“It is tough being a woman Secretary of Industries”You had endometriosis A fresh incision on an arterial veinNever did you take a day off,Never did anyone find out In Raghurajpur they had an exhibition of handicraftsYou…
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Scratching at Layers of Patriarchal Sedimentation
During my research on the ghazal, I discovered that the work done by several women poets in the eighteenth and nineteenth century had been removed from written history. Women had systematically been excluded from several anthologies. In Urdu, as oral poetry started being complied and printed, the biographies penned by poet and historian Altaf Hussain…
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Why Can’t You Smell Your Own Home?
I discovered this fascinating article on The Cut “Why Can’t You Smell Your Own Home?“. It talks about how we get so used to smells that are non-threatening we stop sensing them. It seems that we “tune out” the smells, which probably explains why we stop smelling a perfumed candle or a pillow spray, after…
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Let’s Get Organized
It was 1996, Dr. Jacob in college, pointed out: “What after the wedding?”, we were in an invigorating lecture on Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. According to him, the real story was to unfold after Edmund and Fanny were married and “settled” into the mansion. We all disliked Fanny Price declaring her prudish. We also…

