Truly Saptarshi

‘Blackie!’ , ‘Negro!’, ‘Homo!’, ‘Ladies!’, ‘Wear bangles if you cannot do such a simple work!’ , ‘Don’t behave like an eunuch!’, ‘That’s enough freedom for a girl!’, ‘Are you gay or what?’ , ‘I am okay with gay but they should not wear such loud clothes!’, and the list goes on where very casually and supposedly in a very funny way people pass their judgements and comments. But, where does it come from? Why do we still not find topics funnier than casual sexism, racism and homophobia to play cool with? A world devoid of funny things things to talk about seems really gloomy but at the cost of what? A simple ‘Homo joke’ can push a person down the dark by lanes of tragedy, can push someone back to closet who for once thought of coming out and living life. The woman who dares is slut shamed and the woman who is afraid is suppressed further, both sides do not sound enticing. When a whole gender is used to depict anything that is weak and feeble, a different style of misogyny and sexism is ...

Since the time I came to know that an individual can also become parent, a single parent, I have always wanted to become a father. However, as I grew older and realised that I am much more privileged than my parents ever were, I started thinking that I will adopt a child only if I can give a better life to that child when compared to mine. So, I have always liked to believe that the cycle goes exactly like this, a tomorrow better than today and a day after tomorrow better than tomorrow. But, are the privileges granted to us enough to change the world? I would say, ‘No’. But, who is asking us to change the world? Change one life, motivate one person, help one in need and the act will be reciprocated, the act will spread far and wide to make the world a better place. Every time when we are reluctant to help, we are citing examples of other people not doing the same and you doing one good act, noble act, kind act or responsible act cannot really do much. So, in all this confusion and ...

The Netflix series 'Special' ended at its prime and it was just the second season. The show might not be a huge hit across the world but has created the right amount of ripple with its very plain and simple life like treatment of everything that can be made dramatic very easily. The show being semi-autobiographical, Ryan O'Connell (the protagonist and creator of the show) could have gone wrong at multiple points if he tried to do anything else but then rather than treading by the white, sweet, sentimental path always, he treaded on the risky black and grey more often. The protagonist of the show is Ryan Hayes (Ryan O'Connell), who is gay and has mild cerebral palsy. He is a writer and when season one starts, he is staying with his mother and quite dependent on her. His mother Karen Hayes is played by Jessica Hecht with absolute ease. The show is revolutionary but does not make a lot of hype and hoopla about anything at all which makes this casual approach even more impa...

Two human beings, X and Y one day followed each other on Instagram, they like each other's feed and felt a connection; started conversing online. Soon, they decided to meet and it was almost like love at first sight, they clicked and how. On further realisation, they decided to express their love and admiration for each other and also have plans to start staying together very soon. Now, what are the genders of X and Y? Does it matter? If it does then I think this post will make you uneasy, but I won't discourage you to read on because change comes only when we step out of our comfort zone. And for someone who is feeling uneasy, just keep pondering on one question, "What if your relationship with whoever you love is looked down upon and even made illegal?" The legal part was handled very well by the supreme court on 6th September 2018 and that too unanimously by the whole panel in the Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India case. It was a landmark judgement that decided t...

The third post in a row (something that is happening after years) and after writing about the Rose family it had to be this Australian series which had given me quite a company when I was really looking for it a few months back. There is one more similarity between 'Please Like Me' and the Canadian series 'Schitt's Creek' beside the fact that one of the protagonists is queer; the creator is also the protagonist here. Josh Thomas has done a really commendable job of exploring everything from mental health to abortion to relationship and still managed to hold on to the fact that it is a comedy series by using the whole psychological thing to its advantage. The most flawed character has to be the protagonist, the very blunt Josh played by Josh Thomas, and there are moments where I felt he is nothing but an idiot. Still, the show somehow managed to tie up everything and give meaning to life beyond the binaries. Josh is a person who continuously feels insecure about his ...

I remember reading an article on 'The Guardian', which goes something like "Terrible name, terrific sitcom" and I do not know if I agree with the first part. Still, I definitely agree with the terrific part, and a blog post dedicated to this terrific family which made me laugh and cry my heart out is the least that I can do to make myself happy and to contribute to the big family of fans out there. To start with, it has to be the portrayal of the love story between David (Daniel Levy) and Patrick (Noah Reid) which is just another love story minus all the struggles and fights against society. We, of course, cannot deny the everyday struggles that many same-sex couples face but then many lead a life just like David and Patrick too, a portrayal of which brings in a breath of fresh air and a ray of sunshine to people's lives and minds. It is not always a good feeling to see just the struggles on the screen, so a mixed platter is more preferable. Schitt's Creek doe...

Pink are for girls, Boys do not cry, Girls should not sit spreading their legs, Boys should love sports, Girls should play with dolls and so much of this and bit of that too. Tags are attached with the smallest of things and every person keeps living life with the tags. It’s high time that we start living untagged without getting judged. Gay men are effeminate and vise versa. But I can show hundreds of examples in this world which says otherwise. Effeminacy doesn’t come with a tag called homosexuals. Effeminate homosexuals and heterosexuals do not need the tag. Single child comes with a tag that you are a spoilt brat. However, the world has seen children with siblings getting spoilt so the whole tag of getting spoilt has nothing to do with the fact that you are a single child or the hundredth child. Women should have the tag timid and vulnerable hanging from their neck (right in between their cleavage) and along with it a virgin tag makes them just ‘suitable’ for the ...

Our society is such that if the rapist and rape victim are on the same platform, at least there will be a few (if not a lot) people (sadly women too) who will point fingers at the rape victim. I particularly mentioned women because we are very far away from that time when a male rape victim can come out and say that someone raped him. And that has become something we live with and accept or compromise with thinking its ought to happen. Being a youngster I expect my generation to be people without the prejudices that pull others back but what I get to see only disheartens me more. Of course there are people who are just the kind that the society needs, they are free thinkers but being very small in number that shouts, those rebellious voices somewhere fade out. What I talked about is just to make us realise the nth time that what our society is largely like. And then this society, this very society which looks down upon a rape victim, which looks down upon a divorcee, which looks...

Yes we got this Independence due to the economic crisis that struck the British Empire after World War 2 but that does not diminish the kind of torture that our countrymen and freedom fighters have gone through. The sacrifice and resistance are spoken about a lot but let us then think what are we doing out of the freedom that took so much to achieve? If we did snatch our country from the grip of British, did we do so to make it a better and progressive place to live in or take it on reverse gear altogether? We fight for things as meagre as religion and caste, cows and pigs, temples and mosques. How unfortunate is that! Society to a great extent builds a human’s persona and that needs to be built up with the true sanity of freedom and away from all kind of prejudices. People have to understand that there is no replacement for education and that an educated mind is free and can change the world. By education, society should stop thinking about degree and marks because degree doesn...

Yes I will curse, I will roil, I will sit back and go down the lane of nostalgia. I will keep doing so because I cannot forget her, I cannot stop missing her. Nothing can replace her. Every first time has been with her. Every joy, every sorrow, every love, every fight has been with her by my side. From books to food, smoke to peg everything has her name written on it when it was the first time. And now when i am far away from her, how can I just ‘adjust’ without getting vexed? And trust me food although being a problem, that we do not get good fishes or sweets or posto or shukto it is not always the biggest issue because there are more to it. How will i get away from the place that imbibed in me the love for art, literature, music, introduced me to poetry, to ‘good’ cinema and plays, to dance, to everything good or bad that I have today. Everyone else may find these to be not so important in life but what if all these have shaped you up in life? How do you get away and adjust? Ho...

I am quite fed-up with the way people speak nowadays. And disgusted with the attitude some people carry with them against people who do not know English properly. Firstly, i would be very happy if someone makes me understand what has English to do, or rather any language has to do with the fact that a person is well-read or literate? A person may have studied a lot in Bangla or Hindi or Tamil or Urdu... that does not make him/her literate? On the contrary it maybe often seen that a person speaks English very smoothly but in reality he is an empty vessel an its only the fact that empty vessels sound much is proved. Because of this wrong attitude, the languages have got distorted, people learn English in a hurry because its being seen as a status symbol and do not get time or try enough to learn his.her mother language or local language. And while writing or speaking they just rape the languages badly and its so painful for the eyes and ears. Its true that English is a language wi...

What happened at Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh is very painful and miserable . Maybe somewhere we are to be blamed down the years but i am writing this post not to discuss those issues of nature . But , this is about us , how we people are taking advantage of the whole situation at times. According to the newspapers and television channels , what is going on besides the rescue camps is just inhumanity. Shopkeepers are selling a packet of chips worth Rs. 10 for as much as Rs. 100 , a 'mere' roti costs anything from Rs. 100 to 150 . Yes its time to get shocked , its time to realise that we may shout out slogans but when it comes to be that 'good person' , that 'human being' we always think of , we are not ready to be so. These situations come as tests and each time we fail. If we take advantage of someone's ill fate , trauma , sorrow and ill heath then what examples are we setting ? Where is our humanity ? Then we come to people who have set out ...

A fashion called candle march is the new trend in town. Its not new for sure but nowadays we are having too much of them beacause we have many reasons very frequently without at the end of the day having any fruitful result. We march because we love to walk and added flavour to it is a candle in hand. Wow!! Who can afford to miss it? I AM WITH CANDLE MARCH...... because we need to roar and make the idiots out there know that we are not sleeping , that if needed we can also roar and protest for our rights, protest against what is wrong. But, the end result? Nothing, no change. Leave aside the rapists and murderers against whom we are protesting, after this candle march is over then the next day if we find a girl lying unclad on a street shouting for help or a man crying with pain because someone has shot him.... i am sure most of the people will try to hurriedly pass that scene and have a jolly ride to wherever he/she is going without even bothering to help. We o...

The title is a dream line of every Indian, just hope some day maybe a century later it will become reality.Today is the third mourning year of the 26/11 which shook India by panic. So, we were really shaken? Did we really learn something? I don't know but one thing is for sure that we Indians are so big in number that we never unite on any one topic. Today, i cannot stop from making you all remember once again that the terrorist Kasab is still 'comfortably' staying in prison. Everyday the Government spends lakhs for the well being of a terrorist? And 'rumours' tell that lakhs of Indians cannot even afford a meal? Should this be the case? Some people have enough love and care for the Maoists with some odd reasons supporting the love. Should i even try to believe that Those people are not aware of all the murders and rapes the Maoists have done? Recently we witnessed the death of Maoist 'superman' Kishenji and with this there was huge happiness a...

Regardless of the ambiguity that shrouded the eruption of the Libyan popular uprising, regardless of the various conspiracy theories that tried – and still are –to somehow find a hidden foreign agenda behind this armed revolution, regardless of the many apologists for the Gaddafi’s regime who elaborated on his good deeds and achievements for the Libyans during the last four decades … one simple and utterly painful truth remains, that Muammar Gaddafi held nothing for the Libyan people but sheer contempt. On his first speech that followed the start of the Libyan uprising last February and as he was threatening to turn Libya into a bloodbath Gaddafi defiantly disparaged the rebels as he shouted “who are you, anyway?” With the assistance of oil revenues, Libya’s small population has enjoyed one of the continent’s high rates of economic growth and social welfare and medical services but still the Libyans remained politically and educationally impoverished as the colonel alway...

He deserves the tag line that i have given to him. Although i am not a fan of Chetan Bhagat and do not like his style of writing but could not resist myself from finding out what makes him so popular among the Indian mass. And this IIT and IIM passout has become more of an youth icon than an author. He has earned himself the tag of 'The biggest selling English language novelist in India's history'. All the four novels he has written so far has created waves and has went on to become bestsellers. His just released, fifth novel 'Revolution 2020' is also no exception. So is his aura that Time magazine had named him as one of the hundred most influential people of the world. But, is his aura really something worth of so much appreciation? We have some of the finest Indian authors in Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth, Anita Desai, R.K. Narayan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Arundhati Roy to name a few and is he really worthy of more appreciation than these names that i just told? He is ...